Planet Money

  • We buy a lot of Christmas trees (Update)

    *Note: This episode originally ran in 2020* ‘Tis the season for Americans to head out in droves and bring home a freshly-cut Christmas tree. But decorative evergreens don’t just magically show up on corner lots,…


  • Dollarizing Argentina

    Argentina has been on a decades-long search for economic stability, but it always seems to be out of reach. High inflation has been plaguing the country and just surpassed 160% a year. Over the past…


  • How to be better at hybrid work, according to research

    The research keeps coming in on remote work. New evidence suggests working from home, at least full-time, may not be as productive as we once thought. Economist Jose Maria Barrero and his co-authors have reviewed…


  • What econ says in the shadows

    Economics Job Market Rumors is a website that’s half a job information Wiki, where people post about what’s going on inside economics departments, and half a discussion forum, where anyone with an internet connection can…


  • Why ’90s ads are unforgettable

    Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s __________. The best part of waking up, is _______ in your cup! Got ____? If you can identify these brands based on tagline alone, it’s possible you… are…


  • The U.S. economy’s biggest superpower, explained

    What if you could borrow money on the cheap and use it to pay for just about anything? The U.S. government can, and does, with U.S. Treasuries. But the market for Treasuries might be more…


  • Why do doctors still use pagers?

    Remember pagers? They were huge in the 80s — these little devices that could receive short messages. Sir Mix-A-Lot even had a song about them! But then cell phones came along, and pagers more or…


  • Two food and drink indicators

    Today on the show, we have two episodes from our daily podcast, The Indicator, about things we spend a lot of time thinking about this time of year: food and drink. First up, we explore…


  • Why are we so bummed about the economy?

    Would you say that you and your family are better off or worse off, financially, than you were a year ago? Do you think in 12 months we’ll have good times, financially, or bad? Generally…


  • So you want to sell marijuana across state lines

    In the state of Oregon, there is a glut of grass. A wealth of weed. A crisis of chronic. And, jokes aside, it’s a real problem for people who work in the cannabis industry like…