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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#421: The Birth Of The Dollar Bill
Before the Civil War, there were 8,000 different kinds of ...
Before the Civil War, there were 8,000 different kinds of money in the United States.Banks printed their own paper money. And, unlike today, a $1 bill wasn't always worth $1. Sometimes people took the bills at face value. Sometimes they accepted them at a discount (a $1 bill might only be worth 90 cents, say.) Sometimes people rejected certain bills altogether.On today's show, we figure out how this world worked. And explain how the Civil War — and the Union's need for money — changed everything.
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#420: The (Legal) Marijuana Business
Last month, two states voted to legalize recreational marijuana. A ...
Last month, two states voted to legalize recreational marijuana. A bunch of others states have already legalized medical marijuana. Not surprisingly, there are legitimate, legal (at least under state law) marijuana entrepreneurs trying to start businesses around the country. On today's show, we discover the one big thing that's standing in their way: getting a bank account. And we learn how hard it is to run a business on cash alone.
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#364: Should We Kill The Dollar Bill?
Note: This week's Congressional hearing on dollar coins prompted us ...
Note: This week's Congressional hearing on dollar coins prompted us to re-run this episode today. It originally ran in April of this year.Legislation in Congress would get rid of dollar bills and replace them with coins. Proponents say coins are easier to use and save the country money in the long run. The bill people say none of this is true.So should we kill the dollar bill?On today's show we go deep into the nature of money itself, and we find a clear answer to this question.
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#419: Taylor Swift, Helium, A Jelly-Like Mass and The Price Of Gas
On today's show: Four Planet Money stories that aired on ...
On today's show: Four Planet Money stories that aired on the radio but haven't yet made it into the show.* A Sequester Is A 'Jelly-Like Mass,' And Other Notes On Fiscal-Cliff Jargon* Clear The Secret Genius Of Taylor Swift* The Weird Story Of Why Helium Prices Are Going Through The Roof* Energy Independence Wouldn't Make Gasoline Any Cheaper
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#418: How The Government Set Up A Fake Bank To Launder Drug Money
One day in the early 1990s, a man walked into ...
One day in the early 1990s, a man walked into the U.S. embassy in Ecuador. He said he had information somebody would want to hear — information on how to go after some of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world.The man worked as a money changer. He said he was getting a lot of requests from traffickers who had a problem: They had so much cash that they didn't know what to do with it. They couldn't figure out how to launder their money.What they needed was an offshore bank to help them. On today's show, we hear how two U.S. agents — one IRS, one DEA — created a fake offshore bank to catch drug traffickers.
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#417: Lance Armstrong And The Business Of Doping
On today's show, we consider a world where everybody cheats ...
On today's show, we consider a world where everybody cheats and where you can't win unless you game the regulators: Professional cycling.Under the leadership of Lance Armstrong, the U.S. Postal Service cycling team was wildly successful, winning the Tour de France seven years in a row.According to a recent report, the team was running a high-tech, secret doping operation during those years. The operation was run like a business, and its leader was Lance Armstrong.
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#416: Why The Price Of Coke Didn't Change For 70 Years
Prices go up. Occasionally, prices go down. But for 70 ...
Prices go up. Occasionally, prices go down. But for 70 years, the price of a bottle of Coca-Cola didn't change. From 1886 until the late 1950s, a bottle of Coke cost a nickel. On today's show, we find out why. The answer includes a half a million vending machines, a 7.5 cent coin, and a company president who just wanted to get a couple lawyers out of his office.
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#415: Can A Poor Country Start Over?
Today's show is the story of two men and one ...
Today's show is the story of two men and one big idea. The big idea is that a poor country should take a small, empty part of its territory and say: We're going to build a new city here. And in this new city, we're going to get rid of our existing laws and rules, and bring in the best laws we can find from around the world. Get help from foreign countries. Maybe the UK could serve as a court of appeals. Maybe Canada could send in a few Mounties to help set up a police force. The two men are Paul Romer, a world famous North American economist, and Octavio Sanchez, chief of staff to the president of Honduras. They think their big idea could be the answer to one of the oldest, hardest problems in economics: How do poor countries get richer? And they seem like a perfect match. Paul is a famous economist who can sell the idea around the world. Octavio has the ear of the president in a poor country looking for a change. On the show, we find out what happens when they try to make their idea a reality.
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#128: Friend or Foe?
Why do businesses selling the same thing crowd around each ...
Why do businesses selling the same thing crowd around each other rather than strike out on their own? To answer that question, Adam Davidson and Chana Joffe-Walt walk through some New York City neighborhoods – the diamond district, the plant district, the chess district — where store after store sells the exact same thing.
