Planet Money

By: NPR
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  • Summary

  • Wanna see a trick? Give us any topic and we can tie it back to the economy. At Planet Money, we explore the forces that shape our lives and bring you along for the ride. Don't just understand the economy – understand the world.

    Wanna go deeper? Subscribe to Planet Money+ and get sponsor-free episodes of Planet Money, The Indicator, and Planet Money Summer School. Plus access to bonus content. It's a new way to support the show you love. Learn more at plus.npr.org/planetmoney
    Copyright 2015-2021 NPR - For Personal Use Only
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Economics Politics & Government
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Episodes
  • PM x Radiolab: Can the economy grow forever?

    PM x Radiolab: Can the economy grow forever?
    Mar 28 2025
    Earth can sustain life for another 100 million years, but can we? This episode, we partner with Radiolab to take stock of the essential raw materials that enable us to live as we do here on Earth — everything from sand to copper to oil — and tally up how much we have left. Are we living with reckless abandon? And if so, is there even a way to stop? A simultaneously terrifying and delightful conversation about bird poop, daredevil drivers, and some staggering back-of-the-envelope math.

    Radiolab's original episode was produced and edited by Pat Walters and Soren Wheeler. Fact-checking by Natalie Middleton. The Planet Money edition of this episode was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Alex Goldmark and Jess Jiang. Special thanks to Jennifer Brandel.

    Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    Listen free at these links:     Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Help support     Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

    Music: NPR Source Audio - "Wir Rollen"

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    37 mins
  • Planet Money buys a mystery diamond

    Planet Money buys a mystery diamond
    Mar 26 2025
    The deal seemed too good to be true. There's a website that's been selling top quality diamonds at bizarrely low prices. Prices we couldn't find at any retail outlet. Prices so low, we could buy a diamond on a public radio budget. So we did. What we got in the mail was a tiny ziploc bag containing a scintillating mystery.

    On today's show: the Planet Money Diamond (or whatever this sparkly rock turns out to be). We get it analyzed by the experts at the Gemological Institute of America. We investigate where it came from. And, we dive into the economics of glittery stones. Was this a new kind of internet scam? Some supply chain anomaly? Or is something just really weird going on in the world of diamonds?

    This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Keith Romer with help from Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Emma Peaslee, and engineered by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

    Find more     Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    Listen free at these links:     Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Help support     Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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    32 mins
  • Can we just change how we measure GDP?

    Can we just change how we measure GDP?
    Mar 21 2025
    There's one statistic that rules them all when it comes to keeping track of the economy: gross domestic product (GDP). It's the sum of all final transactions, so all the goods or services bought and sold, in an economy. GDP tells us how hot the economy is running, or how cool — like if we might be heading into a recession. And it's an important tool to compare countries, policies, and politicians. It's used by the U.S. government to allocate money and by businesses to make decisions about the future.

    For close to a century the building blocks of GDP have been the same. Now Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has proposed a big change: taking government spending out of GDP.

    On today's show, can the U.S. change how it measures GDP? We talk with a former head of the BEA — about what he thinks they're likely to do now, and about the pressure he faced while trying to compile GDP for nearly two decades. Turns out, people have always been trying to bend it to make whatever grand project they're working on look better.

    Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    Listen free at these links:     Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    22 mins

Featured Article: The best sales podcasts for all kinds of sellers and savvy buyers


The world of sales can be complicated, but it is vital to just about everything you do or want to achieve. From learning how to sell your own skills to promoting the products or services your employer offers to protecting yourself from people selling scams, knowing how sales works can open up a lot of doors and save you a lot of trouble. These sales podcasts will teach you some of the most important things you need to know about sales.

Featured Article The best sales podcasts for all kinds of sellers and savvy buyers

What listeners say about Planet Money

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Profile Image for Sara

Very Interesting

Its very interesting they talk about tax loopholes in a way that makes you want to listen to it.

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Profile Image for Stephanie Hawn

Best!

This is one of my all time favorite podcasts! keep up the great work 😃

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Profile Image for Jonathan

Incredibly informative analysis on... everything!

Amazing podcast, the energy of the hosts is unmatched (is it just me or does Mary sound exactly like Cortana?)
Everyone should be tuning into every episode.

The tax loophole is still my favorite episode... so far!!

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planet skibidi toilet slay


planet money is so slay and it made me do the griddy. it gave me skibidi rizz 🤔😨😪😧

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Profile Image for Brendan

Nice

This show is a classic, everybody performs so great and such good stories, I highly suggest.
Thank you for reading 

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Profile Image for John K.

too much advertising

Way too much advertising which makes it real annoying to listen. otherwise the content is good.

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