Planet Money

  • Shopping for parental benefits around the world

    It is so expensive to have a kid in the United States. The U.S. is one of just a handful of countries worldwide with no federal paid parental leave; it offers functionally no public childcare…


  • The secret world behind school fundraisers

    Fundraising is a staple of the school experience in the U.S. There’s an assembly showing off all the prizes kids can win by selling enough wrapping paper or chocolate to their neighbors. But it’s pretty…


  • A controversial idea at the heart of Bidenomics

    Réka Juhász is a professor of economics at the University of British Columbia, and she studies what’s known as industrial policy. That’s the general term for whenever the government tries to promote specific sectors of…


  • Two Indicators: Economics of the defense industry

    The Department of Defense’s proposed budget for 2024 is $842 billion. That is about 3.5% of the U.S.’s GDP. The military buys everything from pens and paper clips to fighter jets and submarines. But the…


  • How the Navy came to protect cargo ships

    The Genco Picardy is not an American ship. It doesn’t pay U.S. taxes, none of its crew are U.S. nationals, and when it sailed through the Red Sea last month, it wasn’t carrying cargo to…


  • It’s giving … Valentines

    L, is for the way you Listen to Planet MoneyO, is for the Only podcast I hearV, is Very, very, fiduciaryE, is for… ECONOMICS! Every February, we dedicate a show to the things in our…


  • A lawsuit for your broken heart

    Keith King was upset when his marriage ended. His wife had cheated, and his family broke apart. And that’s when he learned about a very old type of lawsuit, called a heart balm tort. A…


  • Morally questionable, economically efficient

    There are tons of markets that don’t exist because people just don’t want to allow a market – for whatever reason, people feel icky about putting a price on something. For example: Surrogacy is a…


  • Groundhog Day 2024: Trademark, bankruptcy, and the dollar that failed

    It’s Groundhog Day, and the eyes of the nation have turned to a small town in western Pennsylvania. And, just like last year, all anyone can talk about is Punxsutawney Phil! It is impossible to…


  • The Chicken Tax (Classic)

    Note: This episode originally ran in 2015. German families in the 60s loved tasty, cheap American-raised chicken that was suddenly coming in after the war. And Americans were loving fun, cheap Volkswagen Beetles. This arrangement…