What happens when small town politics collide with the climate crisis? And how do hazard maps—maps that show which homes in your neighborhood are at risk of getting destroyed or damaged by a natural disaster—come into play? On today's episode, how some people—from Indiana to Oregon to Alaska—are facing some very real concerns about insurance and the ability to sell their houses.
In Western Colorado, towns and farms are banding together to pay a hundred million dollars for water they don't intend to use. Today on the show, how scarcity, climate change and a first-dibs system of water management is forcing towns, farms and rural residents to get spendy.
College campuses nationwide are erupting with protests against Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza. A consistent theme among these actions: a call for university endowment "divestment."
Today, we unpack what that means and how divestment would work. Plus, we hear from an expert who explains why divestment might not have the effect that many believe.
Related episodes: Why Israel uses diaspora bonds (Apple / Spotify) How much of your tax dollars are going to Israel and Ukraine (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
It's Jobs Friday and the jobs report is in! There's more jobs! ... but not as many as expected. And there's a teensy bit more unemployment and slower wage growth. But there's an upside ... Plus, healthcare is growing like gangbusters and how immigrants affect American-born workers.
Today on the show, the story of the modern consumer movement in the U.S. and the person who inspired it: Ralph Nader. How Ralph Nader's battle in the 1960s set the stage for decades of regulation and sparked a debate in the U.S. about how much regulation is the right amount and how much is too much.
This episode was made in collaboration with NPR's Throughline. For more about Ralph Nader and safety regulations, listen to their original episode, "Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader."
This Planet Money episode was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Jess Jiang.
The Throughline episode was produced by Rund Abdelfatah, Ramtin Arablouei, Lawrence Wu, Julie Caine, Anya Steinberg, Casey Miner, Cristina Kim, Devin Katayama, Peter Balonon-Rosen, Irene Noguchi, and fact-checking by Kevin Volkl. The episode was mixed by Josh Newell.
Millions of American workers in all sorts of industries have signed some form of noncompete agreement. Their pervasiveness has led to situations where workers looking to change jobs can be locked out of their fields.
On today's episode: how one man tried to end noncompete contracts in his home state of Hawaii. And we update that story with news of a recent ruling from the Federal Trade Commission that could ban most noncompete agreements nationwide.
This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Amanda Aronczyk. The original piece was produced by Dave Blanchard, edited by Ebony Reed, and engineered by Isaac Rodrigues. The update was reported and produced by Willa Rubin. It was edited by Keith Romer, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Josephine Nyounai.
The Beigie Awards are back to recognize the regional Federal Reserve Bank with the best Beige Book entry. This time, we shine a spotlight on one entry that explains how some businesses are feeling the impacts of higher for longer interest rates.
Sandwiched between a burger joint and an oyster bar in New York City hangs a daunting image: The National Debt Clock. And that debt number? It just keeps ticking up. How deep in the hole are we? Nearly a hundred percent of gross domestic product. And counting. Today on the show, the federal debt. Is it time to freak out? Or is there nothing to see here?
Launches by commercial space companies are becoming more frequent. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration licensed 117, an all-time high. But these spaceflight companies aren't paying for all of the FAA's services that they use.
Today, we explore why the government is looking to change that and dig into the larger debate over whether human activity in space is a public or private project.
About thirty years ago, Yagya Kumar Pradhan woke up to the news that the temple he and his clan used had been broken into. The temple had been ransacked. And someone had stolen two holy Bhairav masks. Yagya says they had been in his family for more than five hundred years – since the 16th century.
Yagya is a kind of Hindu priest for his clan. And he says, these Bhairav masks were very holy. People made offerings to them during Dashaun, a festival held in the fall.
Yagya thought the masks were gone for good. He didn't realize... they were hiding in plain sight.
On today's show: The story of a group of amateur art detectives who use modern tools, subterfuge, and the power of the law to return stolen artifacts to their rightful owners. And we dive into the world of high-end auctions and art museums to ask: Can the art world survive the legacy of cultural theft?
Clarification: This episode has been updated to clarify that the reason the Rubin Museum is shuttering its building is not directly linked to repatriation.
This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Nick Fountain. It was produced by James Sneed, edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
We wrap up our series on the economics of the video game industry with a triple roundup. Today, how the new ban on noncompete contracts could affect the gaming industry, whether young men are slacking off work to play games and the ever-controversial world of loot boxes.
Related episodes: Forever games: the economics of the live service model (Apple / Spotify) Designing for disability: how video games become more accessible (Apple / Spotify) The boom and bust of esports (Apple / Spotify) Work. Crunch. Repeat: Why gaming demands so much of its employees (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Union membership in the U.S. has been declining for decades. But, in 2022, support for unions among Americans was the highest it's been in decades. This dissonance is due, in part, to the difficulties of one important phase in the life cycle of a union: setting up a union in the first place. One place where that has been particularly clear is at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Back in 2008, Volkswagen announced that they would be setting up production in the United States after a 20-year absence. They planned to build a new auto manufacturing plant in Chattanooga.
Volkswagen has plants all over the world, all of which have some kind of worker representation, and the company said that it wanted that for Chattanooga too. So, the United Auto Workers, the union that traditionally represents auto workers, thought they would be able to successfully unionize this plant.
They were wrong.
In this episode, we tell the story of the UAW's 10-year fight to unionize the Chattanooga plant. And, what other unions can learn from how badly that fight went for labor.
This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Willa Rubin. It was engineered by Josephine Nyounai, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and edited by Keith Romer. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
The origins of competitive gaming are rooted in college campuses going back to the early 1970s. Now a globally popular industry, esports is at the center of many questions about long-term financial viability.
Today, we dive deep into the hype surrounding esports and why the luster seems to be rubbing off the industry that was once seen by some as the next NBA.
Related episodes: Forever games: the economics of the live service model (Apple / Spotify) Designing for disability: how video games become more accessible (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
