NPR: Planet Money

Like lots of other clothes, the men's Planet Money T-shirt was made in Bangladesh. On today's show, we travel to Bangladesh and visit two sisters who made our shirt.

A few weeks ago, we asked the Internet a simple question: how much does this cow weigh?

We wanted to understand an eerie phenomenon that drives everything from the stock market to the price of orange juice. So we asked you to guess the weight of a cow.

We made a T-shirt, and followed it every step of the way. First step: a high-tech cotton farm.

The big question surrounding automation isn't just about economics or technology. It's also about psychology. How do designers make us comfortable with something that can be really scary?

The world economy is more productive than ever before. A lot of people could work fewer hours and still meet their basic needs. But we don't. Why?

On today's show: the screwed-up economics of drought, and why the rational thing to do in California right now is use more water.

On a visit to Greece, we talk to a guy who found an ingenious place to hoard his cash, a government-protected milk peddler, and a would-be olive oil tycoon.

On a visit to Greece, we talk to a guy who found an ingenious place to hoard his cash, a government-protected milk peddler, and a would-be olive oil tycoon.

Guess the weight of the cow. Somebody's going home with a plastic cow trophy.

Today on the show: We're going small. We ask some of the smartest people we know what little thing they would change to improve the world.

Future doctors and lawyers borrow a lot. Future professors, not so much.

The story of the secret battle to create the song of the summer — the music industry's holy grail.

We sit down with a psychologist and a mortgage broker who committed large-scale fraud to try to figure out why respectable people commit fraud.

Trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership are often negotiated in secret. On today's show, negotiators tell us what happened when they were locked in a hotel for days and told to hash out a deal.

A farmer wanted to sell all his raisins, but the federal government said no. So he took it to the Supreme Court.

How couples share the burden of work — over time, and across incomes.

We ask three economists: Is there some falling anvil that's about to crush the economy?

The price tag is a fairly recent invention. And it's already on its way out.

How the American auto industry is built on a trade dispute over frozen chicken parts.

Robots are really bad at many simple human tasks. One possible workaround: Combine the person with the machine.

Stories about a $50,000 loophole, what neighborhoods mean for kids, and what the Six Million Dollar Man would cost today.

The story of a 24-year-old kid and the idea he thought would reduce congestion, cut greenhouse gasses and make urban life easier for everyone. Instead, it brought him nothing but trouble.

Sam Cohen has made a big business out of buying stuff at big retail stores, then turning around and selling it on Amazon. In an era when stores are profit-maximizing machines, how is that possible?

In the early 1960s, Tom Burrell became the first black man in Chicago advertising. Today on the show, the story of how he changed the way people think about ads and how advertising thinks about us.

Today on the show, how we got from mealy, nasty apples to apples that taste delicious. The story starts with a breeder who discovered a miracle apple. But discovering that apple wasn't enough.

Robots don't always replace workers. Sometimes, workers use robots as tools.

Machines have been taking jobs forever. In the past, when jobs disappeared, new ones were created. But is this time different?

Will your job be around in the future? We take a peek at the research.

What if robots did all the work? In today's show, we imagine a world without jobs.

The computer doesn't pay attention to what you say. What matters is how you say it.

Machines are taking on jobs that once seemed robot-proof. But can a machine replace radio reporters? We pit a human against a machine to find out.

If you aren't already worried about being replaced by a robot, maybe you should be. Today on the show, three races pit humans against machines.

Today on the show, the true story of the Luddites.

Poor kids who moved to neighborhoods with less poverty did much better than those who didn't move.

While most technology is getting smaller and cheaper, batteries still suck. Today on the show, we learn exactly why, and meet some of the people trying to make batteries better.

You're not allowed to buy and sell organs. So doctors created a different system. Today on the show: how do you decide who gets lungs?

Casinos are worried that young people aren't interested in playing slots or other games of luck. They're turning to games that require skill, like basketball.

We visit the workshop of a meat inventor, who came up with Steak-Umm and KFC's popcorn chicken. And we try to figure out what meat inventors tell us about patents and innovation.

In the early 1900s, the president of the largest shoe company in the world tried to create a Utopia for his workers. He called his big experiment in welfare capitalism: The Square Deal.

When Magic: The Gathering became a hit, its creators faced a surprising problem.

Today on the show: how a bunch of rational economists try to deal with our feelings. And the story of a man who came up with five simple questions that he hoped would predict the future.

Just a few years ago, solar power was an expensive luxury for the environmentally conscious. Now it's a good deal for lots of people. How did solar power get so cheap, so fast?

How do you make money manufacturing a dry, bland cracker that a tiny percentage of the population eats just one week a year?

In a lot of video games, the default character is a man. If you want to play as a woman, you often have to pay.

A 12-year-old girl discovers it can cost a lot more to play video games as a girl. Today on the show: video game economics and a sixth-grade smackdown.