NPR's Planet Money

Tanking – teams intentionally losing games to secure a better draft pick – is not a new phenomenon, especially in the NBA. But this year, it’s been especially egregious. Today on the show: Planet Money fixes the NBA’s tanking problem by … fixing the NBA draft.

We want to talk to people who use prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. Especially if you’re younger or have lost – or made – a ton of money. Is that you? Email us at indicator@npr.org. And say a little about how you’ve used these platforms.

The Business of Heated Rivalry : Planet Money Heated Rivalry, the steamy hockey romance show, was made for about $2 million per episode.  That is remarkably cheap for an hour-long drama.Today on the show, a conversation with Heated Rivalry…

Heated Rivalry producers Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady, talk with @karaswisher.bsky.social and @pivotpod.bsky.social about their breakout show. And about the very Canadian business model that financed the show.

The ICE hiring boom : Planet Money Live event info and tickets hereICE is scaling up, with rapid new hiring. So we ask, has training new officers changed? At what cost? Also, the Trump administration has plans to pour billions of…

ICE is scaling up, with rapid new hiring. So we ask, has training new officers changed? At what cost?

NPR Plus | Planet Money+ Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to bonus episodes of Planet Money, curated episode collections by topic, and sponsor-free listening. It also includes sponsor-free…

Doorman has made it to the small screen. We have questions, and (some) answers. On the latest Planet Money+, we're talking all things Doorman. You can sign up here:

plus.npr.org/planetmoney

Episode 599: The Invisible Wall A man goes looking for the invisible wall that traps poor people in poverty. Finding it almost gets him killed.

Hernando de Soto was just appointed Prime Minister of Peru. Listen to our 2015 episode to hear his dramatic story trying to transform Peru’s economy.

www.npr.org/sections/mon...

The Supreme Court struck down a bunch of Trump's tariffs. Now what? : Planet Money Live event info and tickets here.The Supreme Court has spoken. Those big, sweeping tariffs that President Trump imposed early last year? They’re illegal. On today’s show: Why were those tariffs struck...

Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down a bunch of President Trump’s tariffs. What does that mean? Will anyone get refunds? And … what about this new 10 percent tariff the President announced?

www.npr.org/2026/02/21/n...

Whether Trump can or will or should try to control or purchase Greenland, a territory that doesn’t want to be sold, is not the interesting question.

What is interesting is -- how we got to this moment. And how we might gracefully get out of it.

That’s on our latest show.
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Betty Boop, Excel Olympics, Penny-isms: Our 2026 Valentines : Planet Money Book tour event details and ticket info here.An iconic cartoon character liberated from copyright, journalism from the world of competitive spreadsheeting, a controversial piece of US currency. Each…

In this year’s Valentine’s Day episode we tell you about the writing we can’t stop thinking about, teach you some DIY investigative journalism, and build the first ever Planet Money Valentine. (Sure to make the econ nerd in your life swoon.)

The sewing machine changed the world - it created an entire industry, changed how we think about women in the labor force. But the sewing machine accidentally invented something else - something that undergirds nearly every invention since. The patent pool.

buff.ly/F2CoFte

How the sewing machine got us … software : Planet Money Book tour tickets and details here.Today, the story of three inventions. The first, the sewing machine, was created by a selfish and ambitious inventor who wanted all the credit and was willing to fig...

The Invention Invention: how the invention of the sewing machine helped get us more inventions www.npr.org/2026/02/11/n... @samkesler.bsky.social @erikaberas.bsky.social

Feel free to send an email to planetmoney@npr.org !

NYC!

On April 6, I'm going to be telling economics stories with @marychilds.bsky.social, @amandaaronczyk.bsky.social, Alex Mayyasi with special guest Emily Oster. It's @planetmoney.bsky.social live at @92ndstreety.bsky.social!

This housing program helped kids escape poverty — by changing who they befriended : Planet Money In the 1990s, Congress created HOPE VI, a program that demolished old public housing projects and replaced them with more up-to-date ones. But the program went further than just improving public housi...

My latest from @planetmoney.bsky.social is about brand new research that looks at whether changing low-income neighborhoods into mixed-income neighborhoods improves outcomes for kids who grew up there. Potentially big lessons for all kinds of poverty alleviation policies. www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...

fam, the team at @planetmoney.bsky.social is going on a book tour -- and our DEBUT FIRST STOP is @92ndstreety.bsky.social on April 6! Come hang out with me, @amandaaronczyk.bsky.social and @darianwoods.bsky.social and more! www.92ny.org/event/an-eve... +please bring your most burning econ questions

Iran, protests, and sanctions : Planet Money Book tour tickets and details here.The recent protests in Iran are about so many things. Human rights, corruption, freedom. But this time – they are also motivated by economic hardship. Hardship cause...

On the most recent @planetmoney.bsky.social: what did US sanctions do to Iran's economy? How did they feed into the latest protests and crackdown in Iran? Sanctions are supposed to avert war, but how different from war are they? www.npr.org/2026/02/06/n... with @fountain.bsky.social

Iran, protests, and sanctions : Planet Money Book tour tickets and details here.The recent protests in Iran are about so many things. Human rights, corruption, freedom. But this time – they are also motivated by economic hardship. Hardship…

The protests in Iran are about human rights, corruption, freedom. But they’re also about economic hardship. Caused, in part, by US sanctions. Sanctions are supposed to avert violence. But how did they play into the latest protests — and crackdown — in Iran?

Housing is too expensive.

And President Donald Trump has started talking more about affordability - focusing on affordable homes. He’s got two new initiatives that aim to make buying a house easier.

Will they work?

This housing program helped kids escape poverty — by changing who they befriended : Planet Money In the 1990s, Congress created HOPE VI, a program that demolished old public housing projects and replaced them with more up-to-date ones. But the program went further than just improving public…

In the 90s, Congress created a program to improve public housing and economically desegregate poor neighborhoods. The hope was that this would improve opportunities for the people who lived there. But no one knew whether it worked … until now.

If you're in Chicago, come see me with Alex Mayyasi and Adriana Robertson on April 23!

SEE YOU IN NYC BABYYYYYY

At the Zide Door church, after making a donation members can receive “sacrament” in the form of psychedelic mushrooms - a Schedule 1 narcotic. How is this legal? On our latest episode, we talk to the lawyer fighting for the rights of mushroom churches to exist.

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We're going on the road for a book tour in April!

Author Alex Mayyasi will be joined by Planet Money hosts and special guests. Attendees can get swag, like a tour-exclusive tote bag (while supplies last/restrictions apply).

Ticket and tour info: planetmoneybook.com

Are you looking to buy your first home and struggling to figure out how to pay for it? Planet Money wants to talk to prospective homebuyers for an episode on affordability. Send us an email at planetmoney@npr.org with the subject line: “First Time Homebuyer Bluesky”

Chevron, Venezuela and the Paradox of Plenty : Planet Money Venezuela and Chevron have perhaps one of the strangest partnerships … ever? Chevron, one of the world’s most famous and profitable oil corporations, has for decades, been plugging away in Venezuela,…

Venezuela and Chevron have perhaps one of the strangest partnerships. Chevron, one of the world’s most famous and profitable oil corporations, has for decades, been plugging away in Venezuela, one of the world’s most famous and infamous socialist countries.

How important is Fed Independence? Playlist · Planet Money · 9 items · 1 saves

Suddenly a bit more curious about the Federal Reserve? Wondering what happens when a president pressures the Fed? Here's a playlist of our fav episodes on Fed Independence.

So are we in an AI bubble? Here are clues to look for. : Planet Money Are we in an AI bubble? That’s the $35 trillion dollar question right now as the stock market soars higher and higher. The problem is that bubbles are famously hard to spot. But some economists say…

Are we in an AI bubble right now?

Bubbles are infamously hard to predict, but economists say there might be some clues.

On our latest: The dark art of bubble detection.

Indicators of the Year, Past and Future : Planet Money 2025 is finally over. It was a wild year for the U.S. economy. Tariffs transformed global trading, consumer sentiment hit near-historic lows, and stocks hit dramatic new heights! So … which of these…

It is time to choose our indicators of 2025 AND our top indicator predictions for the new year.

Tariffs, consumer sentiment, the CAPE ratio.

Do you agree?

Tell us what to pay attention to next year.

We answer the question: are AI data centers making power bills go up for the rest of us. Yes. But of course it’s more complicated than that. Listen:

How to save 10,000 fingers : Planet Money Table saws are extremely dangerous. The government estimates that injuries from table saws send something like 30,000 people to the emergency room every year. 3,000 of those end in amputations. The co...

How to save 10,000 fingers: www.npr.org/2024/09/20/1...