Episodes

  • How would a US sovereign wealth fund even work?

    How would a US sovereign wealth fund even work?
    Feb 6 2025
    What is a sovereign wealth fund? President Trump's executive order calling for a plan to start a U.S. sovereign wealth fund is not a new idea. But it remains a topic of much debate among economists and policymakers. So is a national sovereign wealth fund a good or even viable idea?

    A version of this episode originally aired Oct. 1, 2024.

    Related episode:
    Why oil in Guyana could be a curse

    For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Fact-checking by     Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.


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    9 mins
  • Trump's tariff role model

    Trump's tariff role model
    Feb 5 2025
    President Trump speaks fondly of William McKinley, the 25th U.S. president who was a strong advocate for tariffs. He's credited with helping to protect the fledgling tinplate industry in the late 19th century. But did the tariff work? We take a closer look at McKinley's tinplate tariff and if it was worth the cost.

    Related episodes on tariffs:
    Trump threatens the grim trigger (Apple / Spotify)
    Canada's key resource against Trump's possible trade war (Apple / Spotify)
    Why Trump's potential tariffs are making business owners anxious (Apple / Spotify)
    Trump's contradictory trade policies (Apple / Spotify)
    How Trump's tariff plan might work (Apple / Spotify)
    Worst. Tariffs. Ever. (Apple / Spotify)

    For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Fact-checking by     Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 mins
  • Trump threatens the grim trigger

    Trump threatens the grim trigger
    Feb 4 2025
    President Donald Trump had promised new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. However, after negotiations with both Mexico and Canada on Monday tariffs against those countries are paused for at least a month. He said tariffs are not a negotiating tool, but he's used them as one as recently as January in a dispute with Colombia. Today, we dissect the game theory behind Trump's use of tariffs.

    Related episodes:
    Canada's key resource against Trump's potential trade war (Apple / Spotify)
    How tariffs have been used throughout US History (Apple / Spotify)
    The game theory that led to nuclear standoffs (Apple / Spotify)

    For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Fact-checking by     Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 mins
  • The reality stopping water pipelines to the parched western US

    The reality stopping water pipelines to the parched western US
    Feb 3 2025
    With so much water in the eastern U.S., why can't the region pipe some of it to its drought-prone neighbors in the West? This perennial question nags climate journalists and western water managers alike. We break down why building a pipeline is unrealistic right now for the Colorado River.

    Related episodes:
    How Colorado towns are trying to get some water certainty
    The trouble with water discounts

    For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Music by     Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    10 mins
  • Running the numbers on deportation, interest rates and math

    Running the numbers on deportation, interest rates and math
    Jan 31 2025
    Why haven't American 8th graders' math scores recovered? Does Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actually have the resources to make all the deportations Trump's promised? And what's the path for interest rates in the Trump economy? All that on Indicators of the Week.

    Related Episodes:
    The U.S. once banned Chinese immigrants — and it paid an economic price
    Why Is The Fed So Boring?

    For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Fact-checking by     Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 mins
  • Canada's key resource against Trump's potential trade war

    Canada's key resource against Trump's potential trade war
    Jan 30 2025
    Canadians have a key leverage point if President Trump makes good on his threat to impose 25% tariffs: oil. We talk to a business journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on why oil would be the "biggest arrow in the quiver" should Canada and the U.S. descend into a trade war — but only as a last resort.

    Listen to CBC's Cost of Living with Paul Haavardstrud here.

    Related episodes:
    I will PAY you to take my natural gas
    Oil prices and the Israel-Hamas war

    For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Fact-checking by     Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 mins
  • Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment

    Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
    Jan 29 2025
    President Trump is making big moves to shrink and reshape the federal workforce. He's offered buyouts, instituted a hiring freeze, and called for prioritizing job seekers who are "passionate about the ideals of our American Republic." While his actions have drawn criticism, some see an opportunity for the new administration to improve the federal hiring process.

    Today on the show, Jennifer Pahlka, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center, tells us why, in her view, government hiring has been broken for a long time while sharing her thoughts on Trump's proposals to fix it.

    Related episodes:
    What happens when Social Security runs out of money? (Apple / Spotify)
    Why Trump's potential tariffs are making business owners anxious (Apple / Spotify)

    For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Fact-checking by     Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 mins
  • The cautionary tale of a recovering day trading addict

    The cautionary tale of a recovering day trading addict
    Jan 28 2025
    The story of a man who started buying and selling stocks as a hobby ... and got seriously addicted. We also speak with a neuroeconomist about the human brain on day trading.

    Related episodes:
    The young trolls of Wall Street are growing up
    Invest like a Congress member

    For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Music by     Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 mins