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
  • Why it's so hard to find a public toilet

    Why it's so hard to find a public toilet
    May 2 2025
    Why is it so hard to find a bathroom when you need one?

    In the U.S., we used to have lots of publicly accessible toilets. But many had locks on the doors and you had to put in a coin to use them. Pay toilets created a system of haves and have nots when it came to bathroom access. So in the 60s, movements sprung up to ban pay toilets.

    Problem is: when the pay toilets went away, so too did many free public toilets.

    Today on the show, how toilets exist in a legal and economic netherworld; they're not quite a public good, not quite a problem the free market can solve.

    Why we're stuck, needing to go, with nowhere to go.

    This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune and engineered by Cena Loffredo. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. 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: Audio Network - "Smoke Rings," "Can't Walk Away" and "Bright Crystals."

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

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    24 mins
  • Planet Money complains. To learn.

    Planet Money complains. To learn.
    Apr 30 2025
    On today's show: we're ... venting.

    We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different curiosities and styles. But we recently realized many of us have something in common: We're annoyed consumers.

    So we're going to get ranty ... but then try to understand the people annoying us. Like stingy coffee shops, manufacturers that don't design things for repair ... and stores that send way too many emails every day.

    Along the way, we learn a very sad thing about satisfaction and the future of skilled labor in the U.S.

    (Also, we should all just stop using umbrellas. They have negative consumption externalities. Come on people.)

    This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by James Willetts. 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.

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

    NPR Privacy Policy
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    26 mins
  • How 23andMe's bankruptcy led to a run on the gene bank

    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
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    31 mins
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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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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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