Texas's energy grid is largely disconnected from the rest of the U.S. That led to disastrous consequences last year when the state's grid was overloaded during a winter storm. Back in the 1970s, one company attempted to change the system in a secret, middle-of-the-night operation. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney
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Older Episodes
We're not in a recession, but why are the vibes feeling so off? We put the question to an economist and one expert on "vibes" and also hire a jazz band to take a pun way too far. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/290783428) or at [plus.npr.org/planetmoney](https://plus.npr.org/planetmoney)
Eddie Oygur is an Australian businessman who's sold sheepskin ugg boots for years. But one day, he was hit with a lawsuit for breaking American trademark law. On today's show — what's in the name ugg? Subscribe to Planet Money+ in [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/290783428) or at [plus.npr.org/planetmoney](http://plus.npr.org/planetmoney).
On today's show - how your social circle is one of the strongest predictors of economic mobility and how pop music reflects the economy. Subscribe to Planet Money+ in [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/290783428) or at [plus.npr.org/planetmoney](http://plus.npr.org/planetmoney).
A practically brand new Lexus with a New Jersey inspection sticker lands on an auto body lot in Turkmenistan. How did it get there? To find out, we journey into the bizarro economy for misfit cars. And we follow a very different kind of journey – of the auto body …
High gas prices have fueled speculation and investigations — is anyone raising prices and keeping prices high for profit? To find out, we break down the price of gas, piece by piece, to show you how we get to the price we see at the pump and how much everyone …
Productivity is our economic measure for how far our work goes, as individuals and as a society over all. It plays an important role in determining our quality of life, the prices of our goods and services, and, to some extent, the amount of free time we have. Today, we …
Sometimes online shopping can feel a little unsavory. There are the listings that make you question if you'll really be getting exactly what's advertised. And there's no worse feeling than paying for something and then not getting it. But when Nina Kollars ordered coffee pods and got WAY more than …
When we face economic uncertainty, we sometimes need someone to come in, pull the macroeconomic strings, and help make everything better. That's where the Federal Reserve Comes in.
Congress just passed the biggest, most ambitious climate bill in history. And it's called ... the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. What's with that branding? And what can the bill teach us about actually fighting inflation? | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/290783428) or at [plus.npr.org/planetmoney](http://plus.npr.org/planetmoney).
In theory, trade makes everyone better off, but it doesn't always work out that way. We take the theory and go around the world to see the workers behind international trade.
The carried interest tax loophole is a way that wealthy Americans – often the people who manage hedge funds or private equity firms – avoid paying billions of dollars worth of taxes. It has been one of the most controversial yet durable features of the U.S. tax code. But where …
You can learn a lot about a person from their job. The same can be said of an economy. The market for jobs can us a lot about how the economy is doing, but more importantly, it is where we look to see who the economy is working for, and …
College has gotten incredibly expensive. And some colleges are offering students a new way to pay. It's not a scholarship. It's not quite a loan. It's more like the students are selling stock in themselves. We check in on how income share agreements at one school have been working. | …
Inflation can be one of the scariest forces in the economy. As prices rise and your dollar doesn't go as far, you feel poorer, and it's all out of your control. To better understand inflation, we turn to the story of Brazil, where, in the 90s, hyperinflation threatened to derail …
_Mirco-Face: The Musical. A_ concert recording of a live musical that grew out of our project 'We Buy A Superhero.' Written and directed by Kit Goldstein Grant.
So are we in a recession or not? The jury is still out, but there are some warning signs. GDP is down and inflation is up. But how much do we know about the 'indicators' that tell us how the economy is doing? Today, the stories of two of our …
Life has its ups and downs. Same for the economy. Today we ask, can the business cycle be tamed? Two stories of recession and techniques for moderating the ferocity of booms and busts. Plus, how bankruptcy is a secret weapon of the American economy. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in …
It has great bones, three bedrooms and one and half baths, and it comes with its own machine that mines cryptocurrency. But in a year of reckoning for crypto, how interested are potential buyers? | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
What even is "the economy"? And how do you measure it? Our path out of the economic darkness and into the light has been guided in large part by one single statistic: GDP. This week: the origins, history, and problems with the economic indicator to rule them all. | At …