Planet Money

The Federal Reserve plays a very important role in the economy. When things start to look uncertain, the central bank is tasked with stepping in to restore people’s confidence in the economy. But how do…

Congress just passed the biggest, most ambitious climate bill in history. And it’s called … the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. What’s with that branding? And what can the bill teach us about actually fighting…

International trade is the web of cross-border relationships that binds economies together. Because of trade we have access to cheaper, higher-quality goods, and we get to benefit from other countries’ cultures. Economics tells us trade…

The carried interest tax loophole is a way that wealthy Americans – often the people who manage hedge funds or private equity firms – avoid paying billions of dollars worth of taxes. It has been…

You can learn a lot about a person from their job. The same can be said of an economy. The market for jobs can us a lot about how the economy is doing, but more…

College has gotten incredibly expensive. And some colleges are offering students a new way to pay. It’s not a scholarship. It’s not quite a loan. It’s more like the students are selling stock in themselves.…

Inflation can be one of the scariest forces in the economy. As prices rise and your dollar doesn’t go as far, you feel poorer, and it’s all out of your control. To better understand inflation,…

This episode, Micro-Face: The Musical. A full concert recording of a one-of-a-kind Planet Money superhero musical, taped during our recent live show at the Roulette Theater in Brooklyn, New York. Here’s more from our project…

So are we in a recession or not? The jury is still out, but there are some warning signs. GDP is down and inflation is up. But how much do we know about the ‘indicators’…