Planet Money

  • The summer I turned binge-y

    On the eve of Netflix shoveling a fourish-hour chunk of Stranger Things onto Christmas Day, we visit the past, present, and future of binge-dropped television shows.  The strategy of releasing an entire season at the…


  • What AI data centers are doing to your electric bill

    As a country, we are spending more to get data centers up and running than we spent to build the entire interstate highway system. (Yes, that’s inflation-adjusted.) With tech companies spending hundreds of billions of…


  • PM does a pop culture draft: 1999 edition

    Welcome to the inaugural Planet Money Pop Culture Draft! In today’s episode (a Planet Money+ episode we’re releasing into the main feed) we’re gonna go back to the year 1999. Three hosts, Kenny Malone, Wailin…


  • When Chicago pawned its parking meters

    In 2008, Chicago’s budget was in a bad place. The city needed money. One way to raise money was to increase property taxes, but what politician wants to do that? So instead, Mayor Richard M.…


  • Strange threadfellows: How the U.S. military shaped what we all wear

    From nuclear fission to GPS to the internet, it’s common knowledge that many of the most resource intensive technologies of the last century got their start as military R&D projects in government-funded labs. But as…


  • How hurricanes became a hot investment

    A few years ago, the Jamaican government started making an unusual financial bet. It went to investors around the world asking if they’d like to wager on the chances a major hurricane would hit the…


  • Is AI slopifying the job market? (Two Indicators)

    Vote for us in NPR’s People’s Choice Awards: npr.org/peopleschoice  AI is already reshaping how people find work. Fewer entry-level jobs, robot recruiters, and ever-changing new skill requirements all add up to a new, daunting landscape…


  • Capitalism (Taylor’s Version) (25-minute Podcast Version)

    Taylor Swift reaches new heights with her latest album, which is both divisive and record-breaking. And it’s fueled by an elaborate series of business choices that propel profits but also chart numbers. Today’s episode comes…


  • Saving lives with fewer dollars

    Givewell is a nonprofit organization that gives money to “save or improve the most lives per dollar.” Part of their whole thing is a rigorous research process with copious and specific datapoints. So, in the…


  • The Consumer Sentiment vs. Consumer Spending Puzzle

    Wherever consumer sentiment goes, consumer spending usually goes too. They’re like buddies that do everything together. Consumer sentiment wants a hair cut, its buddy consumer spending does too. But lately, these friends are drifting apart.…


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