appears in the following:

Episode 902: The Phoebus Cartel

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

The story behind two sneaky forces that drive us to buy more products, more often: Planned obsolescence and psychological obsolescence.

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Episode 825: Who Started The Wildfire?

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

After a wildfire, teams of investigators start combing the wreckage for clues. Finding the cause means, maybe, finding someone to pay. But where's the line between a natural disaster and a human one?

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Episode 883: A Very Planet Money Christmas Carol

Friday, December 21, 2018

Charles Dickens wanted to pick a fight with economists. So he invented Ebenezer Scrooge. But did he get it right?

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Episode 872: The Halloween Tapes

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Two reporters walk into a haunted house, in this special Halloween episode.

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Episode 866: Modern Monetary Theory

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

We rethink everything we know about government spending, taxes, the nature of money... All of it.

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Episode 859: You Asked For Even More

Friday, August 10, 2018

You have a lot of questions... about tariffs, unemployment rates, and RV dealerships, to name a few. We have answers.

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Episode 851: The Rest Of The Story Summer 2018

Friday, June 29, 2018

A pesticide wreaks havoc. A listener needs a bitcoin detective. And the search for the rarest economic good continues.

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Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act: A Classic Economics Horror Story

Thursday, April 05, 2018

The U.S. and China have announced new protectionist tariffs, in what some fear is a trade war. We bring you the story of a bygone era of American protectionism: the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930s.

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Episode 833: Worst. Tariffs. Ever.

Friday, March 30, 2018

Tariffs are stupid. This is one of the few things economists can agree on. Today, we bring you the story of the worst tariffs ever.

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Understanding The Productivity Paradox

Friday, June 02, 2017

Economists are worried about a crucial measure of innovation in the economy. That measure is productivity growth. It was surging for decades, but it's been slowing down.

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Episode 772: Small Change

Friday, May 19, 2017

How fast is the world really changing? The answer has implications for everything from how the next generation will live to whether robots really will take all our jobs.

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Wal-Mart's Unconventional Approach To Get People To Save: Prizes

Friday, November 25, 2016

Many Americans don't have enough savings to get through an emergency. Wal-Mart is offering a new program where you can win money by saving money.

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The Difficult Task Of Moving Freight Forwarding Into The Internet Age

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

When products move around the world, they pass through a highly sophisticated system of ships, docks, trucks and more. But there is one link that has remained stubbornly human: freight forwarding.

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Zombie Docket Keeps Foreclosures From The Financial Crisis Alive

Thursday, June 30, 2016

After the housing market crash, a lot of foreclosure cases got started and then were abandoned. A court clerk in Queens discovered it's hard, lonely work to tie up a loose end of the financial crisis.

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Michigan Bank Discovers The Need For Islamic Finance Products

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Some interpretations of Islam outlaw charging interest. That makes most banking pretty hard, but there are ways to practice Islamic compliant finance. One bank in Michigan gave it a go.

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