• Planet Money

  • By: NPR
  • Podcast
  • 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
    Show More Show Less
activate_mytile_page_redirect_t1
Episodes
  • How 23andMe's bankruptcy led to a run on the gene bank
    Apr 26 2025
    Reporter Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi's Aunt Vovi signed up for 23andMe back in 2017, hoping to learn more about the genetic makeup of her ancestors. Vovi was one of over 15 million 23andMe customers who sent their saliva off to be analyzed by the company.

    But last month, 23andMe filed for bankruptcy, and it announced it would be selling off that massive genetic database. Today on the show, what might happen to Vovi's genetic data as 23andMe works its way through the bankruptcy process, how the bankruptcy system has treated consumer data privacy in the past, and what this case reveals about the data that all of us willingly hand over to companies every single day.

    This episode was produced by Sylvie Douglis and edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Harry Paul and Neal Rauch and fact-checked by Tyler Jones. 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.

    Music: NPR Source Audio - "Lazybones," "Twirp," and "On Your Marks"


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

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence
    Apr 23 2025
    President Donald Trump has been loudly critical of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for years now. Since January, the President has accused him of playing politics by keeping interest rates high. Trump has also threatened to oust Powell — which would mark an extraordinary shift away from the independence of the central bank.

    Today on the show, three Indicators: a short history of the Federal Reserve and why it's insulated from day-to-day politics; how the Fed amassed a ton of power in recent years; and a Trump executive order that took some of that power away.

    The original episodes from the Indicator were produced by Corey Bridges, Brittany Cronin, and Julia Ritchey. They were engineered by Cena Loffredo, James Willetts, and Gilly Moon, and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Kate Concannon is the editor of the Indicator. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts.

    This episode of Planet Money was produced by James Sneed and edited by Marianne McCune & Mary Childs. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

    For more of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at
    plus.npr.org. Or, find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook.

    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

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show More Show Less
    20 mins
  • How much for that egg
    Apr 18 2025
    Recently, one of our NPR colleagues wrote a message to all of NPR saying he had extra eggs to sell for cheap, but needed a fair way to distribute them during a shortage. What is Planet Money here for if not to get OVERLY involved in this kind of situation?

    Our colleague didn't want to charge more than $5, so we couldn't just auction the eggs off. A lottery? Too boring, he said.

    Okay! A very Planet Money puzzle to solve.

    Today on the show, we go in search of novel systems to help our colleague decide who gets his scarce resource: cheap, farm-fresh eggs. We steal from the world of new product development to try and secretly test for egg love, and we discover a pricing method used in development economics that may be America's next great gameshow.

    This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peaslee and it was edited by Marianne McCune. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Jimmy Keeley. 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.

    Music: NPR Source Audio - "Punchy Punchline," "Game Face," "Feeling the Funk," and "The Host Most Wanted"

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

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins

What listeners say about Planet Money

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.