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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#591: War? What War?
Last month, a bunch of Ukrainian business owners flew to ...
Last month, a bunch of Ukrainian business owners flew to New York to try to convince a bunch of New York portfolio managers and private equity funds to invest in Ukraine. There are lots of reasons that it is crazy to hold an "Invest in Ukraine" conference right now, while a war is going on. But "Invest in Ukraine" isn't just the title of the conference, it is in many ways what the whole year of crisis has been about. Today on the show, the revolution in Ukraine was supposed to make the country a better place for Western investment, but it ended up sparking a war that is scaring that investment away. For more: http://n.pr/1HcKXWl
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#590: The Planet Money Workout
Most businesses would close if their customers never showed up. ...
Most businesses would close if their customers never showed up. An empty restaurant is a disaster. An empty store means bankruptcy. At a gym, emptiness equals success. Today on the show, the mind games that gyms play with you. From design to pricing to free bagels, gyms want to be a product that everyone buys, but no one actually uses. For more: http://n.pr/1sBAzkp
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#589: Hello, I'm Calling From La Mafia
Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. Jobs ...
Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. Jobs that seem dull and safe in most countries have become incredibly dangerous professions in Honduras. For example: Driving a bus.On today's show: what it's like to live and work in the most dangerous country in the world.
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#588: The Technology Tango
How customers use a piece of technology can change what ...
How customers use a piece of technology can change what the product is. And what the product is can change the business model for the company. It's a constant dance between the customers and the sellers. Today on the show, three short stories about this dance. For more: http://n.pr/1yR6BPh
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#587: Jubilee! (?)
There's an idea that dates back at least to biblical ...
There's an idea that dates back at least to biblical times. There should be a moment when debts are forgiven. Its called a jubilee.The jubilee has not gotten a lot of traction in the modern world. You may remember after the financial crisis, some of the Occupy Wall Street protesters were calling for a jubilee. But it basically ended there.Today on the show: the story about a country that is actually trying a jubilee. Iceland.
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#271: A City On The Moon
It's called "Iceland" for a reason. Polar bears sometimes wind ...
It's called "Iceland" for a reason. Polar bears sometimes wind up there floating by on chunks of ice. In the winter, there are only a few hours of daylight each day. Reykjavik feels like you took a European city — coffee shops, fancy cars, orderly streets — and put it on the moon. Which raises a question: How did a barren, icy island become a thriving, modern economy? The short answer: Fish, energy and books. The long answer starts back in the year 1075, with our Icelandic intern's great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather. For more: http://n.pr/1rYf8tC
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#586: How Stuff Gets Cheaper
We tend to get obsessed with things that get more ...
We tend to get obsessed with things that get more expensive over time — college tuition, say, or health care. But lots of things have actually gotten cheaper in real terms. Things made by machines. Things like consumer electronics. Some new gadget comes out with a $1,000 price tag. Two years later it costs $500. There's no law of nature that says this must be so. And yet it happens year after year. Today on the show, we visit a company called Monoprice. And we go into a room where people sit all day and try to make stuff get cheaper.
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#585: Chasing The Dread Pirate Roberts
Today on the show, the story of the Dread Pirate ...
Today on the show, the story of the Dread Pirate Roberts of the internet age. A man who dreamed of setting up a utopian marketplace, a place where you could buy and sell almost anything in secret. The pirate created a market with no contracts, no regulations, and really no government interference. The Dread Pirate believed in total economic freedom, but in order to make his market work, he had to do some very bad things.
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#474: The North Korea Files
Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in July ...
Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in July 2013.U.S. citizens who want to buy stuff from North Korea have to write a letter to the U.S. government asking for special permission. As regular listeners know, we're sort of obsessed with North Korea. So we decided to try to get those letters. We filed a Freedom of Information Act request. And we got a stack of heavily redacted letters. On today's show: we try to figure out who sent the letters, why they wanted to do business with North Korea, and what that tells us about the North Korean economy.
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#584: What The Lebron?
Nike is a smart multi-billion dollar company, but some sneaker ...
Nike is a smart multi-billion dollar company, but some sneaker fans have figured out how they can get a better price for Nike sneakers than Nike can. Some pairs trade like stocks — selling for double, quadruple, 12 times their retail price after they leave the store. Even used sneakers. Josh Luber, of sneakerhead data company, Campless, estimates that Nike let resellers walk away with 230 million dollars in profits last year — that's money that did not go to Nike. Today on the show, why would a multi-billion dollar company give up its profits to some scrappy guys on the street? For more: http://n.pr/1quQ7uT
