Planet Money

  • It’s my tree. Why can’t I cut it down?

    Can the government stop you from cutting down your own tree? In many towns and cities these days, removing a tree now requires a permit. You might have to pay a fee, or promise to…

  • Two indicators for lowering the rent

    One specific type of affordable housing used to be popular in American cities, kept rents low, then nearly vanished. Is it time to reconsider boarding houses and single room occupancy units? If they lowered rents…

  • Why is there a supplement craze if they don’t even work?

    One reason the $70 billion supplement industry is set to double in the next seven years? Lax regulation. On today’s show, we tell the story of a century-long battle between the U.S. government and ……

  • There’s no business like dough business

    Have you ever walked around a street, mall, or airport and noticed two or three of the same franchise restaurant within walking distance? Why might one Starbucks or McDonald’s or Wetzel’s Pretzels sometimes be built…

  • The sneaky way companies get new chemicals into our food

    99% of chemicals in our food right now were added without FDA approval. Many were added in secret, through a sneaky loophole built into the 1958 Food Additives Amendment. It was supposed to require FDA…

  • The leaked tapes that show how the rich avoid taxes

    Tax avoidance — that is, legally reducing your tax bill — is as American as apple pie. But the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion is often a grey one.  On today’s show, a…

  • The giant factory town that might be a giant mistake

    How does a poor country become a rich country? There’s a simple blueprint — or at least, that’s what many economists used to believe. But over the years, a lot of rapidly developing economies have…

  • Vacation and why Americans take so little

    Do you work more for more money? Or work less for more time? For some, this is the ultimate economic choice.  Every single worker in the European Union is guaranteed four weeks of paid vacation.…

  • Jerome Powell and the Future of Fed Independence

    If you have a credit card, hope to buy a house, or just want stable grocery prices – let’s talk about the future of Fed independence! It’s impossibly important for the Federal Reserve to steer…

  • The secret meeting that launched OPEC

    Recently, a listener wrote in with a question about OPEC and oil prices. She was prepping for a camping trip… thinking about how much it costs to fill up her diesel-guzzling camper van at the…

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