NPR: Planet Money

The Supplemental Poverty Report provides a more accurate and nuanced picture of poverty in America

Tyler Cowen rates Nobel prizes, blogs, and the importance of weirdness in conversation

Seth Frotman worked overseeing student loans for the government. He saw things that made him quit.

Turns out nothing says 'I'm sorry' like cold, hard cash

China is piloting a so-called social credit system, which allots every citizen a certain number of points. If you do the "right thing" you can extra points. If you don't, you can lose points.

In China, if you don't pay back your loans, you could end up on a blacklist. When you're on it, you can't get a credit card or a plane ticket. Today on the show, we talk with someone on the blacklist.

China has a problem: it's economy grew fast and that led to a trust problem. If someone doesn't pay back a loan, there's no real enforcement. But the solution might cause problems of its own.

The reverse stock split is the Iron Lotus of the financial world. It looks complicated and absurd, and it often doesn't end well.

Bill Nordhaus just won the economics Nobel. In this show: He shows how history of light is the history of economic growth — of things getting faster, cheaper, and more efficient.

Today on the Indicator: stolen jobs-day trends ... from our clever jobs-day friends!

We follow writer Oliver Bullough as he explores how stolen money moves around the world, and what that might mean for democracies.

The US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement keeps in place the basic NAFTA framework, with a few twists.

You've seen these ads: "You can work from home and get rich. It's easy. Call this number!" So, what happens when you respond?

General Electric used to be a household name — a pillar of the U.S. economy. Now, it's fighting to survive.

How financial bubbles reflect the particular psychology of the times in which they inflate.

Washington, D.C. is being sued for a billion dollars... for gentrification.

We tell the story of a massive crackdown on asylum fraud, and the fallout.

Corn prices are falling, but the price of Fritos in the White House press corps break room is up by 20%. What's going on? Team Indicator is on the case!

In 2012, a Justice Department probe shut down law firms that helped Chinese asylum-seekers fabricate or inflate claims of persecution. The clients were left alone, but now 13,500 may have to leave.

Companies are buying back stock from shareholders more than ever. Not everyone thinks that's a good thing.

We rethink everything we know about government spending, taxes, the nature of money... All of it.

The U.S. trade war with China escalated this week. The Trump administration might be underestimating how many options the Chinese government has for responding to American tariffs.

The psychological scars wrought by the 2008 financial crisis are taking a long time to heal. We're a lot more cautious, which has serious implications for the economy.

This week in history: Saudi Arabian oil and the creation of Aramco.

We propose small fixes for baseball, weddings, salary negotiations and buying your morning coffee. Warning: They may be too rational.

Rents in America are leveling off. At last!

Why boom and bust is part and parcel of the emerging economic experience.

How one man took the onion market hostage.

We hear a lot about the effects of the financial crisis on the economy and markets, but what about the lasting effects it had on our psyches?

The availability of work — the availability of jobs for people who want a job and even for people who didn't know they want a job — continues expanding.

Clowns and clowning have been suffering from a chronic branding crisis for decades. Can they fix it?

We crash a party of central bankers to get an answer to one of the biggest economic questions of our time.

In the midst of a deepening economic crisis, a reporter's dilemma.

Demand for Japanese-grown rice is falling. But prices are still going up.

In honor of our 10th anniversary, we revisit our very first episode.

Why free tuition may make for better politics than economics.

People lie when they're looking for a mate online. Today on the Indicator: the lies we tell online, and how often we tell them.

For more than three decades, it was illegal in Alabama to have your baby delivered by a midwife. But last year the state finally legalized midwifery and now it could lead to serious cost savings.

What a hole-in-one gone awry says about the state of charity.

Martha Gimbel of the Hiring Lab at Indeed answers listener questions about the job market.

Computing and the internet should make us more productive. Or should they?! It's an Indicator mystery.

Subaru's sales had been slumping for years. Then they went straight to their biggest fans: Lesbians.

Cardiff gets the lowdown on NAFTA from Soumaya Keynes of The Economist

The next round of trade barriers with China could include a 25 percent levy on Chinese antiquities. One dealer went to Washington to tell Congress why that tariff could hurt our allies and ourselves.

In 1907, America's financial system ran into trouble. Trust in financial institutions evaporated, and contagion swept through the economy. Then John Pierpont Morgan stepped in.

That time we accidentally created a cheese surplus so large it had to be stored in a ginormous cave.

Most people think the best time to start a business is when you're young, but is it?

California just did away with cash bail. But credit where credit is due. New Jersey already tried something similar.

Why do men still make 20 percent more than women in the U.S.?

Creative destruction is a fact of economic life that few products can resist. Graphing calculators are a notable exception.