Planet Money

Capitalism (Taylor's Version) (25-minute Podcast Version)

Planet Money hands the episode over to Vox's Today Explained to examine how Taylor Swift and other pop stars use album variants and sales strategies to game music charts and monetize superfans. Music reporter Elias Light explains the mechanics and incentives behind physical and digital variants, while critic Ann Powers unpacks the backlash to Swift's latest album, fans' discomfort with her extreme wealth, and how she uses her music to control her public narrative. The episode situates Swift within broader industry practices and compares her autobiographical approach to Beyoncé's more representative storytelling.

Nov 28, 2025

Saving lives with fewer dollars

The episode follows ALIMA's healthcare program in conflict-affected northern Cameroon after it abruptly loses $1.9 million in funding from USAID, forcing cuts to lifesaving services. It contrasts ALIMA's on-the-ground medical work with GiveWell's data-driven philanthropy, showing how GiveWell evaluates whether to fund the program despite limited and imperfect data. Ultimately, GiveWell decides to fully replace the lost USAID funding for one year, while the story highlights broader global cuts to aid and the resulting loss of both services and information about needs.

Nov 27, 2025

The Consumer Sentiment vs. Consumer Spending Puzzle

The episode explores why U.S. consumer spending remains strong despite very low consumer sentiment and several economic headwinds like high interest rates, inflation, and tariffs. Using detailed credit card data, economist Dieran Patkey shows that high-income households are driving much of the growth in spending, effectively propping up the economy. Economist Peter Atwater argues that this creates a top-heavy, "K-shaped" economy and a fragile, illusionary sense of broad prosperity that is vulnerable to shocks in financial markets.

Nov 21, 2025

Days of our Tariffs

Planet Money uses producer James Sneed's surprise tariff bill on a collectible Arthur toy to illustrate how modern tariffs hit individual consumers, including unexpected brokerage fees and customs processes. Trade lawyer Lenny Feldman explains how changes to the de minimis exemption and importer-of-record rules push more tariff and processing costs onto buyers, while economist Alberto Cavallo shows, using large-scale price data, that recent tariffs have raised imported-goods prices by about 6%, domestic-goods prices by about 3.5%, and overall inflation by roughly 0.7 percentage points. The episode concludes that U.S. consumers are clearly paying for tariffs, often in ways that are not visible at the time of purchase.

Nov 19, 2025

The obscure pool of money the US used to bail out Argentina

The episode examines the U.S. Treasury's Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), a relatively obscure pool of money that Treasury Secretary Scott Besant recently used to extend a $20 billion credit line to Argentina without congressional approval. Through interviews with economist Brad Setzer and former Treasury official Jeffrey Schaefer, the hosts trace the ESF's origins, its rare large-scale use in the 1995 Mexican peso crisis, and compare that episode to the current situation in Argentina. The conversation explores how lender-of-last-resort principles, political risk, and Argentina's economic policies shape the chances that the U.S. will ever be repaid.

Nov 15, 2025

Buy now, pay dearly? (update)

Planet Money explores how buy now, pay later (BNPL) services work, why they have spread so quickly, and what risks they pose to consumers and the broader financial system. Through the story of college student Emilia Schmarzo and interviews with Federal Reserve researchers, the episode explains BNPL's business model, its appeal to merchants and younger shoppers, and the dangers of debt "stacking" when usage is not reported to credit bureaus. An update looks at how BNPL has expanded to everyday necessities, who is using it most, and how it may soon affect credit scores.

Nov 12, 2025

A new experiment in remote work ... from the inside

Planet Money examines Maine's experiment with allowing incarcerated people to hold remote jobs for market-rate wages, focusing on the stories of grants coordinator Darlene George and software engineer Preston Thorpe. Reporter Susan Sharon and Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty explain how prison education led to remote work opportunities, how earnings are handled and prioritized for restitution and fees, and the ethical debates and incentive problems that arise when prisons collect a share of those wages. The episode contrasts Maine's guarded approach with Alabama's far more extractive system, and explores what this could mean for recidivism, victims, and the future of prison labor.

Nov 7, 2025

Everything's more expensive!! Pet care!! Concert tickets!! (Two Indicators)

This episode presents two Indicator stories on the rising cost of living, focusing first on concert ticket prices and then on veterinary care. The hosts examine how ticket reseller bots, mispricing by artists, and the secondary market contribute to high concert prices, as well as how one state is trying to regulate resales. They then explore why veterinary costs have risen much faster than general inflation, highlighting Baumol's cost disease, higher input and labor costs, corporate ownership pressures, and stronger emotional bonds between pet owners and their animals.

Nov 5, 2025

After the shutdown, SNAP will still be in trouble

The episode examines how a new federal law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ties states' costs for food stamps (SNAP) to their payment error rates, shifting part of the financial burden from the federal government to states. Reporters follow Oregon official Nate Singer as he works to reduce the state's high error rate without making it harder for people like Safeway cashier and SNAP recipient Vicki Aguilar to access benefits. The story also explores the auditing system, the tradeoff between accuracy and accessibility, the perspective of Governor Tina Kotek, and the added pressure from a federal government shutdown threatening to suspend SNAP payments.

Nov 1, 2025

The remittance mystery

The episode investigates a puzzling surge in remittances flowing from the United States to several Central American and Caribbean countries, especially Honduras, despite heightened immigration enforcement and declining new immigration. Through interviews with a Honduran bank remittance manager, migrants, and economists, the reporters explore how fear of deportation, a looming remittance tax, and migrants' desire to build savings back home are driving this spike. They also examine how critical remittances are to economies like Honduras, the risks of over-dependence on this income, and the potential economic shock if these flows decline in the near future.

Oct 30, 2025

Should the fine have to fit the crime?

The episode follows Alaska bush pilot Ken Jopie, who lost his $95,000 Cessna after being convicted of felony bootlegging for flying a six-pack of beer into a dry village, and has spent over a decade fighting the forfeiture. Through Ken's case, law professor Michael O'Hare and attorney Sam Gedge explain the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause, how a 1998 Supreme Court case (Bajikajian) established limits on economic punishments, and how lower courts have since applied that standard unevenly. The conversation explores why fines and forfeitures can be constitutionally excessive, the incentives that drive governments to rely on them, and why Ken's case could prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the law.

Oct 24, 2025

TikTok's Trojan Horse Strategy

Planet Money teams up with sound design podcast 20,000 Hertz to explain how TikTok created and deployed one of the most effective sonic logos of the last decade. Sound designers Afrik Lennon and Roscoe Williamson describe TikTok's brief, the months-long creative process, and how they arrived at the distinctive boom-bling sound built around an 808 kick, an E major 7 chord, and even an accidental dog bark. The episode also details TikTok's covert "sonic sticker" rollout and how automatically attaching the logo to downloaded videos turned it into a Trojan horse that spreads across rival platforms.

Oct 22, 2025

How Russia's shadow fleet is sailing around oil sanctions

The episode investigates Russia's "shadow fleet" of aging oil tankers that has emerged to evade Western sanctions and the G7 oil price cap imposed after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. A Danish maritime pilot, Bjarne Cesar Skinnerup, describes guiding increasingly numerous, poorly maintained tankers carrying Russian oil through the Danish Straits, while maritime intelligence specialist Michelle V.C. Bachman explains how the fleet is structured using opaque ownership, fake insurance, and permissive or fraudulent flags. The hosts explore how this underground shipping network reshapes global oil flows, sustains Russian revenues, raises geopolitical tensions, and creates severe environmental and financial risks for coastal nations, while leaving individuals like Bjarne in a moral bind.

Oct 17, 2025

The year NYC went broke

The episode examines New York City's 1975 fiscal crisis, when years of accounting gimmicks and reliance on short-term debt led the city to the brink of default and inability to pay basic municipal workers. Through interviews with key participants like Steve Clifford and Donna Shalala, it details how the true scale of the hidden deficit was uncovered, how the Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) and an emergency control board were created, and how unions, real estate interests, the state, and ultimately the federal government were pressured into a shared-sacrifice bailout. The story traces the painful austerity and structural reforms that eventually restored the city's credibility and became a playbook for later municipal debt crises.

Oct 15, 2025

How the government got hedge funded

The episode explains how U.S. government debt is issued as Treasuries, how auctions work, and how primary dealer banks help distribute this debt. It then traces how hedge funds have become major players in the Treasury market via the "Treasury basis trade," using heavy borrowing and Treasuries as collateral, which can amplify risk. The hosts and guests discuss the March 2020 turmoil, the Federal Reserve's massive intervention, and the resulting moral hazard and policy trade‑offs between safe banks, stable markets, and allowing risk‑taking.

Oct 10, 2025

Two ways AI is changing the business of crime (Two Indicators)

The episode explores two ways artificial intelligence is reshaping criminal activity: AI-powered voice cloning scams targeting individuals and banks, and AI-driven trading bots that can destabilize or manipulate financial markets. In the first half, the hosts demonstrate a voice deepfake scam, talk to a fraud-prevention entrepreneur and a bank executive about weaknesses in voice authentication and the shift to layered security, and discuss how consumers can better protect themselves. In the second half, experts explain how more autonomous trading algorithms can unintentionally collude, raising hard questions about liability, regulation, and the broader risks AI poses to market integrity.

Oct 8, 2025

BOARD GAMES 2: Making our prototype

Planet Money follows its collaboration with Exploding Kittens as they turn an economic concept into a playable board game prototype. The team settles on the "Market for Lemons" idea about asymmetric information, watches Exploding Kittens discover and refine a simple but engaging deal-making mechanic, and wrestles with balancing economic education, fun, and manufacturing constraints. They then test the prototype with game consultant Jamie Wolanski and invite listeners to download and playtest a printable version to help refine the game.

Oct 4, 2025

BOARD GAMES 1: We're making a game

Planet Money goes inside the modern board game industry as they embark on creating their own economics-themed tabletop game. They follow the journey of first-time designer and publisher Leonie Grundler, whose game Biome became a Kickstarter hit, and then meet Exploding Kittens co-creator Alon Lee to explore whether their game should be a complex Eurogame or a mass-market party game. Along the way, they unpack crowdfunding, manufacturing, tariffs, and the importance of core game mechanics while setting up a partnership to develop a smart but broadly appealing party game.

Oct 1, 2025

How refrigeration took over the world

The episode explores how refrigeration and the modern cold chain emerged, from Gustavus Swift's centralized meatpacking and refrigerated railcars to the scientific work of chemist M.E. "Polly" Pennington, who standardized safe temperatures and built public trust in chilled foods. Hosts and guest Nicola Twilley trace how continuous refrigeration reshaped agriculture, consumer expectations of freshness, women's household labor, and even geopolitical events like war logistics and Irish independence. They also examine the downsides of a cold-dependent food system, including diminished flavor, shifted food waste, and significant climate-warming emissions, along with potential efficiency improvements.

Sep 26, 2025

In Gaza, money is falling apart

Planet Money follows two best friends from Gaza, Alaldeen Sheikh Khalid in Belgium and Mohamed Awad still in Gaza, as they piece together an improvised financial pipeline to move usable Israeli shekels into Gaza despite a blockade on cash and a barely functioning banking and internet infrastructure. Through their project Impossible Light and the story of a young woman named Haya living in a tent camp, the episode shows how extreme cash shortages, destroyed infrastructure, and war-driven scarcity have turned money itself into a scarce and damaged commodity, inflating prices and spawning a market where people literally "buy money with money" just to obtain physical cash. The episode details how this system works in practice, from international donors to Palestinian bank accounts to cash brokers and cash repairers, and what that means for ordinary Gazans trying to secure basics like food, tents, diapers, and milk.

Sep 20, 2025