Planet Money

Back in 2005, Burt Banks inherited a plot of old family land in Delaware. But when it came time to sell it, he ran into a problem: his neighbor had a goat pen, and about…

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? An astronaut, a doctor or maybe a famous athlete? Today one of the most popular responses to that question is influencer…

After a successful career in advertising, Erika Williams decided it was time for a change. She went back to school to get an MBA at the University of Chicago, and eventually, in 2012, she got…

Note: This episode originally aired in September, 2014. Zoos follow a fundamental principle: You can’t sell or buy the animals. It’s unethical and illegal to put a price tag on an elephant’s head. But money…

Imagine if we built cars the same way we build houses. First, a typical buyer would meet with the car designer, and tell them what kind of car they want. Then the designer would draw…

This past January, researchers uncovered that Black taxpayers are three to five times as likely to be audited as everyone else. One likely reason for this is that the IRS disproportionately audits lower-income earners who…

Right now, the economy is running hot. Inflation is high, and central banks are pushing up interest rates to fight it. But before the pandemic, economies around the world were stuck in a different rut:…

Right now, the economy is all over the place. And when things get confusing, we look to basic economic indicators to help explain what’s going on. Today, we’re bringing you two episodes of our daily…

It’s been a month since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank touched off the worst episode of banking turmoil since 2008. While the financial system appears to have stabilized, we’re still reckoning with what happened.…

Puerto Rico’s beaches are an integral part of life on the island, and by law, they’re one of the few places that are truly public. In practice, the sandy stretch of land where the water…