NPR: Planet Money

Vodka is the best selling spirit in the United States, and there are zillions of brands. But is there any difference between them?

Today more than two thirds of the guns in America are owned by just 20 percent of gun owners. That's not always good for gunmakers.

Imagine being able to work fewer hours during a difficult time in your life, without having to quit your job or interrupt your career. In Germany, for many workers, that's now a reality.

Our guest, Tyler Cowen, has insights into a ridiculously wide range of subjects. Our conversation touches everything from Afrofuturist flicks to the mouth-numbing qualities of the Sichuan peppercorn.

How do you reinvent something as simple as the wooden shipping pallet?

Russia spent 73 million Rubles a month to influence an American election. But what did they get for their money?

After a wildfire, teams of investigators start combing the wreckage for clues. Finding the cause means, maybe, finding someone to pay. But where's the line between a natural disaster and a human one?

You won't have to get coffee. But you might have to ride a hoverboard. Apply by Sunday, March 4.

How a classic econ book explains ABBA's costumes (among other things).

If you can't beat 'em, send 'em a valentine.

An economist from the Obama administration thinks the economy still needs stimulus. Will the Republican tax and spending bills provide it?

An index that was invented to measure people's expectations about the stock market may be driving the market itself.

Investors are pouring money into art, and a lot of it is disappearing into storage. We try to find out where the art goes, and why it goes there.

Today on the show: What our three favorite jobs numbers tell us about the state of the economy.

President Trump's new tariff on solar panels kicks in this week. But the story of where that tariff came from goes back to the Obama administration.

In 1978, a group of farmers in a Chinese village wrote a contract and hid it in the roof of a hut. They were afraid the document might get them executed. Instead, it transformed the Chinese economy.

The stock market's drop over the past few days wasn't weird. What was weird was what the market did for all of 2017.

How does the market for Super Bowl tickets work? And why did it collapse in 2015?

U.S. exports include airplanes, education and lots of blood.

Phosphate is a crucial element, for farming, and for life. And there aren't too many places to get it. What if it runs out?

Today on the show: citrus, globalization, and the birth of the mafia.

Douglas Bruce had a bold vision for Colorado.

Long-term-care insurance seemed like the next big thing. Then insurance companies started losing billions of dollars. What went wrong?

Today's Indicator: Your face. It's worth money. It's the next big thing. And, if you're like most of us, you're giving it away.

The government shutdown was a symptom of a bigger problem: Congress seems incapable of passing a proper budget.

A biologist predicts a population bomb that will lead to global catastrophe. An economist sees a limitless future for mankind. The result is one of the most famous bets in economics.

The wild ginseng market has gone crazy. We go to a farm hidden in the Appalachian mountains to find out why.

Will 3-D printing make gun control impossible?

There's a warning sign for the economy with an amazing track record. It's not flashing now, but it's close enough to make us nervous.

Dogecoin, a bitcoin spinoff created as a joke, is now worth $1.4 billion. The coin's creator tells us how the joke became real — and explains why he has mixed feelings about the whole thing.

Why does it take days to send money electronically?

President Trump's Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, had a plan to prop up the coal industry. This week, a federal commission—led by a Trump appointee—rejected it.

The state of the American job market, as revealed by jobs numbers released this morning.

A lot of popular plans for boosting middle-class wages don't work as well as as they used to. Here are a few ideas that might work now.

The bitcoin market has gone crazy. And it's revealing something strange. A lot of people can't find their bitcoins. We go looking for lost billions.