Let's Evolve Together | NPR | Activity

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Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:30:00 -0700

Our mission: Find the world’s best economic ideas (Summer School World Tour)Come along as we travel the world in search of the best economic ideas to bring home! From […]

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Fri, 03 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0700

How to win a penalty shootout (with game theory)Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest soccer scorer of all time. But when it comes to penalty kicks, Messi is merely […]

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Wed, 01 Jul 2026 07:00:00 -0700

Can the Trump administration make college cheaper?Will limiting how much students can borrow force schools to lower their prices? The Department of Education […]

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Fri, 26 Jun 2026 21:30:00 -0700

We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?In the early 90’s, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow p […]

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Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:31:31 -0700

Before Kalshi and Polymarket there was the Iowa Electronic MarketsPrediction markets aren’t new. Election betting was common until the 1940s, then mysteriously f […]

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Fri, 19 Jun 2026 21:30:00 -0700

The real horror of ‘Alien’ and how it explains why we’re not paid enoughMaybe the real monster in the Alien franchise isn’t actually the killer alien. Because b […]

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Wed, 17 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0700

Can computer hackers get inside your mind?The cyber weapon that might have prevented nuclear war. The U.S. and Israel have long been in conflict with Iran over […]

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Fri, 12 Jun 2026 22:00:00 -0700

It’s my tree. Why can’t I cut it down?Can the government stop you from cutting down your own tree? In many towns and cities these days, removing a tree now requires a […]

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Wed, 10 Jun 2026 07:15:00 -0700

Two indicators for lowering the rentOne specific type of affordable housing used to be popular in American cities, kept rents low, then nearly vanished. Is it […]

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Fri, 05 Jun 2026 21:00:00 -0700

Why is there a supplement craze if they don’t even work?One reason the $70 billion supplement industry is set to double in the next seven years? Lax regulation. On […]

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Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0700

There’s no business like dough businessHave you ever walked around a street, mall, or airport and noticed two or three of the same franchise restaurant within […]

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Fri, 29 May 2026 19:59:00 -0700

The sneaky way companies get new chemicals into our food99% of chemicals in our food right now were added without FDA approval. Many were added in secret, through […]

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Wed, 27 May 2026 07:00:00 -0700

The leaked tapes that show how the rich avoid taxesTax avoidance — that is, legally reducing your tax bill — is as American as apple pie. But the line between tax […]

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Fri, 22 May 2026 22:25:00 -0700

The giant factory town that might be a giant mistakeHow does a poor country become a rich country? There’s a simple blueprint — or at least, that’s what many […]

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Wed, 20 May 2026 07:00:00 -0700

Vacation and why Americans take so littleDo you work more for more money? Or work less for more time? For some, this is the ultimate economic choice. Every […]

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Fri, 15 May 2026 19:59:43 -0700

Jerome Powell and the Future of Fed IndependenceIf you have a credit card, hope to buy a house, or just want stable grocery prices – let’s talk about the fut […]

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Wed, 13 May 2026 22:03:21 -0700

The secret meeting that launched OPECRecently, a listener wrote in with a question about OPEC and oil prices. She was prepping for a camping trip… thinking a […]

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Sat, 09 May 2026 02:26:37 -0700

Diary of a WNBA negotiatorToday the WNBA season tips off, but Dallas Wings veteran forward Alysha Clark has already won a high-stakes competition. She – and a N […]

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Wed, 06 May 2026 07:00:00 -0700

How we got free agents in baseballCurt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game’s highest paid players. He took the St. Louis Cardinals t […]

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Sat, 02 May 2026 00:24:38 -0700

How to make a BOOK into a bestsellerIn the world of commercial publishing, there are few crowning achievements more coveted than a place on the New York Times […]

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Wed, 29 Apr 2026 19:13:51 -0700

Spirit Airlines and the future of cheap flightsIt’s way more than fuel costs that pushed Spirit Airlines to the brink of liquidation and led President Trump to m […]

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Fri, 24 Apr 2026 21:00:00 -0700

Battlefield rare earths: How the U.S. lost to ChinaAt one point in history, one U.S. company monopolized the rare earths industry. Then China took over the […]

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Wed, 22 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0700

Live: Anthropic co-founder on AI and jobsWe talk with Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and Chief Economist at Redfin Daryl Fairweather about two of the biggest […]

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Sat, 18 Apr 2026 02:00:00 -0700

Do prediction market bettors make anything better?Have you noticed a lot of young people getting into antenna-maxxing as alpha? Or, maybe searching for any bit of […]

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Tue, 14 Apr 2026 23:06:36 -0700

How to get through the Strait of HormuzThe United States has been at war with Iran since February 28th. And for a month and a half, Iran’s main leverage over t […]

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Fri, 10 Apr 2026 23:30:43 -0700

BOOKstore EconomicsHow do bookstores choose the books they stock, and how does that affect what customers read? It may not seem like it, but every shelf in a […]

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Wed, 08 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0700

A pro-worker experiment in private equityLive event info and tickets here. If your company got bought by a private equity firm, how would you feel? Maybe a […]

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Sat, 04 Apr 2026 02:24:15 -0700

Reese’s heir vs. chocolate skimpflationLive event info and tickets here. When ingredient costs skyrocket, companies have three basic options: They can raise their […]

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Thu, 02 Apr 2026 02:51:50 -0700

Dark times for Cuba’s economic experimentLive event info and tickets here. For more than 60 years, Cuba has survived on two seemingly contradictory economic […]

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Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:59:58 -0700

The skyscrapers that NIMBYs and zoning couldn’t stopLIVE SHOW TOUR INFO HERE. New stories, live tapings, special guests, book signings and more. What would you […]

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Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:26:04 -0700

Our BOOK vs. the global supply chainWhen you come across a book at a yard sale or a bookstore, you might pay more attention to the words between the covers than […]

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Sat, 21 Mar 2026 01:42:03 -0700

Inside a BOOK auctionIn the age of TikTok and Polymarket, it can be easy to overlook the humble book. But books are one of the most influential technologies ever […]

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Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0700

The little pet fish that saved a town in the AmazonThe cardinal tetra is one of the most popular pet fish in the world. They look like little red and blue […]

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Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:00:00 -0700

Chef vs. RobotRobby the chef has lots of endearing qualities. He can make over 5000 dishes, he’s a consistent cook, and he’s never late for work. But he’s not a […]

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Wed, 11 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0700

The laws of the office revisitedLive event info and tickets here. If something is going wrong in your workplace, there’s probably a law that explains why. M […]

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Fri, 06 Mar 2026 22:15:00 -0700

Planet Money vs. the NBA’s tanking problemWhat do we want from sports? The very best athletes competing as hard as they know how, putting all their effort and […]

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Wed, 04 Mar 2026 18:58:15 -0700

The Business of Heated RivalryHeated Rivalry, the steamy hockey romance show, was made for about $2 million per episode. That is remarkably cheap for an […]

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Fri, 27 Feb 2026 22:05:00 -0700

Don’t hate the replicator, hate the gameThe world of science has been stuck in an existential crisis over whether we actually know the things we thought we knew. […]

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Wed, 25 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0700

The ICE hiring boomLive event info and tickets here. ICE is scaling up, with rapid new hiring. So we ask, has training new officers changed? At what […]

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Sat, 21 Feb 2026 06:09:00 -0700

The Supreme Court struck down a bunch of Trump’s tariffs. Now what?Live event info and tickets here. The Supreme Court has spoken. Those big, sweeping tariffs that […]

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Wed, 18 Feb 2026 20:43:12 -0700

How to get what Greenland has, with permissionBook tour and ticket info here. Greenland has said it is not for sale. Denmark has said it can’t even legally sell G […]

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Fri, 13 Feb 2026 23:23:30 -0700

Betty Boop, Excel Olympics, Penny-isms: Our 2026 ValentinesBook tour event details and ticket info here. An iconic cartoon character liberated from copyright, […]

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Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0700

The Invention InventionBook tour tickets and details here. Today, the story of three inventions. The first, the sewing machine, was created by a selfish and […]

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Sat, 07 Feb 2026 03:16:10 -0700

Iran, protests, and sanctionsBook tour tickets and details here. The recent protests in Iran are about so many things. Human rights, corruption, freedom. But this […]

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0700

Riding with the repo man (update)Planet Money book tour ticket info and dates here. A record number of Americans with poor or just okay credit are behind on their […]

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Sat, 31 Jan 2026 01:28:14 -0700

Can Trump make buying a home more affordable?Book tour dates and ticket info here. Housing is too expensive. Everyone knows this. Democrats know that talking about […]

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Wed, 28 Jan 2026 22:45:17 -0700

Can transforming neighborhoods help kids escape poverty?In the 1990s, Congress created HOPE VI, a program that demolished old public housing projects and replaced […]

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Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:10:35 -0700

A trip to the magic mushroom megachurchBook tour dates and ticket info here. Just as every market has its first movers, every religion has its martyrs — the p […]

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Thu, 22 Jan 2026 03:48:46 -0700

BOARD GAMES 3: What’s in a name?Planet Money has teamed up with the company Exploding Kittens to make a board game inspired by the legendary economics paper The […]

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Sat, 17 Jan 2026 03:58:28 -0700

Chevron, Venezuela and the Paradox of PlentyVenezuela and Chevron have perhaps one of the strangest partnerships … ever? Chevron, one of the world’s most fam […]