NPR: Planet Money
Money makes the world go around, faster and faster every day. On NPR's Planet Money, you'll meet high rollers, brainy economists and regular folks -- all trying to make sense of our rapidly changing global economy.
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#549: A Teenager's Guide to Doing Business in North Korea
The dream of socialist North Korea was that the government ...
The dream of socialist North Korea was that the government would control every part of the economy. No need for private businesses or stores - the state would give you everything. People were not supposed to sell to each other. Ever. On today's show: how markets sprung up anyway.
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The Real Price Of College
Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran on May ...
Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran on May 11th, 2012. You can find more recent data on college costs here.On today's show, we visit beautiful Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.Price of one year at Lafayette: $55,688. Up 63 percent from the price a decade ago.At least, that's the sticker price — the price you get if you add up tuition, room and board, and all the fees listed on the school's website.But there's a huge gap between the sticker price and what the average student actually pays after figuring in grants and scholarships.That's true at private colleges around the country. Nationwide, the average sticker price is more than twice as high as the price students actually pay, and the gap is getting wider.It turns out, it makes economic sense to have a high sticker price and offer lots of discounts. On the show today, we explain why.
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#548: Project Eavesdrop
Planet Money's Steve Henn wanted to know how much someone ...
Planet Money's Steve Henn wanted to know how much someone could learn about him by just sitting back and watching his internet traffic flow by. So he invited a couple computer guys to bug his internet connection for a week.On today's show: What they discovered, and what that tells us about security, smartphones and free WiFi.
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#547: How To Punish A Bank
One of the biggest banks in the world, BNP Paribas, ...
One of the biggest banks in the world, BNP Paribas, is about to be punished. The financial cops are in the middle of deciding what they are going to do. They're trying to figure out how to punish a bank in a way that actually makes it change. There are some standard ways to punish a bad bank. Fines are the first thing every regulator and judge tries. There's also getting the bank to admit guilt. Now they might try something never done before. Today on the show: how to punish a bank.
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#546: Fear, Negativity And Pawn Shops For The Rich
Today on the show: Stories about bored traders, a bank ...
Today on the show: Stories about bored traders, a bank that charges customers to deposit money, and a pawn shop for the rich.
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#454: The Blue Pallet
Certain things are just hard to improve on. The classic ...
Certain things are just hard to improve on. The classic example: the mousetrap. Also: the paperclip. And, the super-size version: the pallet.In its way, the pallet is perfect. A few pieces of cheap lumber nailed together, without an extra nail or board. It keeps things a few inches off the floor and works with a forklift. Amazing.This perfect system of moving stuff around on pallets has been around for a long time. And for basically 50 years, no one really improved on it in this country. Until they did.Today on the show: yes you can build a better pallet.
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#544: The M&M Anomaly
The other day we noticed something strange: a pack of ...
The other day we noticed something strange: a pack of Milk Chocolate M&M's weighs 1.69 ounces, but a pack of Peanut Butter M&M's weigh a tiny tiny bit less, 1.63 ounces. The two packs are same price, but you get slightly less of the Peanut Butter M&Ms! 0.06 ounces less! It turns out there is a whole weird world living down there at the third decimal place. When you pull on that little thread, lots of things start to unravel.After today's show, you will never pop a piece of candy in your mouth and think about it the same way again.
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#472: The One-Page Plan To Fix Global Warming
Note: Today's show is a re-run. It originally ran in ...
Note: Today's show is a re-run. It originally ran in July 2013.Climate change seems like this complicated, intractable problem. But maybe it doesn't have to be.On today's show, we talk to a couple economists about a very simple idea that could solve the climate-change problem: tax carbon emissions.A carbon tax could be paired with cuts in the income tax. And it would drive down emissions without picking winners or losers, and without creating complicated regulations.
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#543: A World Without Banks
There's this big idea floating around right now. It sounds ...
There's this big idea floating around right now. It sounds crazy and fringey, but it turns out some non-crazy, non-fringey people are into it. The idea is this: let's get rid of the banks. Don't make them safer. Don't make them smaller. Just get rid of them.On today's show: A world without banks.
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#542: Can An Economy Be Too Good?
When we talk about European economy, we usually focus on ...
When we talk about European economy, we usually focus on the screw ups – the sunny South, with the big deficits.But the strangest report recently came out of Brussels—saying how well Germany's economy is doing. And how that's a big problem for the rest of the countries in the Eurozone.Today on the show: How when you're in a group, doing extremely well can be a problem.
