The Indicator from Planet Money

The Indicator from Planet Money

A bite-sized show about big ideas. From the people who make Planet Money, The Indicator helps you make sense of what's happening in today's economy. It's a quick hit of insight into money, work, and business. Monday through Friday, in 10 minutes or less.

Episodes

Trump's parade, FEMA phase out, and Warner Bros. Discovery divorces ... itself?

June 13, 2025 • 8 mins
It's ... Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.

On today's episode: the monetary cost of Trump's military parade, looks like FEMA could be phased out, and another change to Warner Bros. Discovery.

Related episodes:
Coyote vs. Warner Bros. Discovery (Apple / Spotify)
Gilded Age 2.0? (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The ...
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The hidden costs of healthcare churn

June 12, 2025 • 8 mins
Healthcare churn—when people switch insurance plans—is particularly bad in the US.

In today's episode, why Americans switch healthcare plans so much, and how that can cost a lot in money ... and in health.

Related episode:
How doctors helped tank universal health care (Apple / Spotify)
Healthcare And Economic Despair

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet...
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The secret tariff-free zone

June 11, 2025 • 9 mins
There's something interesting happening at the Port of Baltimore. On today's show, we explore the hidden world of bonded warehouses, where you can stash your imported Latvian vodka or Dutch beer tariff free (for a while).

Related episodes:
Tariffied! We check in on businesses (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at p...
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What's a revenge tax?

June 10, 2025 • 9 mins
For four decades, the US has maintained a consistent policy position: money should be fairly free to come and go in and out of the country. That's changing.

Two sections in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would add friction. First is a 3.5% tax on immigrants sending money home, commonly known as remittances. Second is what's known as Section 899 or, colloquially, the 'revenge tax'. This one is making Wall Street wary. It w...
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How doctors helped tank universal health care

June 9, 2025 • 9 mins
A debate has been raging over universal health care in the U.S. since the 1940s. Back then, a formidable opponent emerged to dump a lot of money into ensuring it wouldn't happen. That opponent was doctors. Today on the show, Sally Helm, a Planet Money reporter, comes to us in her capacity as the host of HISTORY This Week to detail how doctors helped tank single pay healthcare back then and the role communism played in the fight.
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Why U.S. workers keep getting more productive

June 6, 2025 • 9 mins
For the last couple of years, U.S. labor productivity has been on the rise. And economists don't know exactly why. So today on the show, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago plays economic detective and helps us investigate some different theories about why U.S. workers seem to be more productive than in prior decades.

Related episodes:
What keeps a Fed president up at night (Apple / Spotify)
Product...
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Gilded Age 2.0?

June 5, 2025 • 9 mins
To hear President Trump tell it, the late 1800s, i.e. the Gilded Age, were a period of unparalleled wealth and prosperity in the U.S. But this era was also marked by corruption and wealth inequality. Sound familiar? On today's show, is history repeating itself?

Related episodes:
Trump's tariff role model (Apple / Spotify)
Worst. Tariffs. Ever. (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator ...
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An indicator lost: big disaster costs

June 4, 2025 • 9 mins
The U.S. government has tallied the economic impact of major natural disasters going back to 1980. State and local governments used this data for budgeting and planning. But last month, the administration retired its Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters disaster database. Today on the show, we speak to Adam Smith, the architect of the program, on the work he did and what might be next.

Related episodes:
How mu...
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Who should get mom's ring?

June 3, 2025 • 9 mins
By 2048, more than $100 trillion is expected to be inherited, or passed down from one family member to another. But a lot of the time, the money doesn't end up where it's intended. On today's show, we navigate the thornier questions in estate planning.

Related episodes:
What women want (to invest in)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts o...
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Why Gen Z is feeling 'money dysmorphia'

June 2, 2025 • 9 mins
A significant portion of young people feel like they aren't on solid financial footing. And yet, the numbers show Gen Z adults on average actually earn more and have more wealth than previous generations did at their age.

This phenomenon has been dubbed (by the internet) as 'money dysmorphia'. Today on the show, we chat with a neuroscientist who co-wrote a book, Look Again, that helps explain this phenomenon.

Re...
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Let's 'TACO' 'bout General Motors gassing up V-8s and golden shares

May 30, 2025 • 9 mins
It's ... Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating numbers from the news.

On today's episode, we examine: General Motors invests big in V-8s; U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel flirt with the Golden Share; Trump's tariffs just got more unpredictable.

Related episodes:
Dealmaker Don v. Tariff Man Trump (Apple / Spotify)
The tensions behind the sale of U.S. Steel (Apple / Spotify)
...
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Are Trump's trade deals the real deal?

May 29, 2025 • 9 mins
Top Trump advisers have been boasting about 'awesome' trade deals the administration is negotiating with other countries. But are these deals real? Today on the show, we ask a former U.S. trade negotiator whether these agreements hold up.

Related episodes:
Dealmaker Don v. Tariff Man Trump (Apple / Spotify)
Why there's no referee for the trade war (Apple / Spotify)
Is this a bank?

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Why are college coaches paid so much?

May 28, 2025 • 9 mins
If you had to guess, would you say the president of a university usually makes more money than the football coach? Well, you may be wrong. A college's football coach is often their highest paid employee. The University of Alabama pays its football coach on average close to $11 million. Today on the show, why are college football coaches paid so much? Do their salaries really make economic sense?

Related episodes:
Why t...
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How to build abundantly

May 27, 2025 • 9 mins
Why is building affordable housing so hard these days? We talk to author Derek Thompson about his new book with Ezra Klein, Abundance, about what they believe is keeping affordable housing out of reach in high-income cities.

Related:
How big is the US housing shortage? (Apple / Spotify)
How California's speed rail was always going to blow out (Apple / Spotify)
Why building public transit costs so much
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The dawn of search engines

May 26, 2025 • 9 mins
Today on the show, we bring you a special episode from the Understood feed at CBC podcasts. It's an excerpt from a series called Who Broke the Internet hosted by Cory Doctorow. The four part series details his criticisms on the state of the modern internet and what we can do about it.

From his conversations with Eric Corly the publisher of 2600, an iconic hacker magazine, best known under his hacker name Emmanuel Goldste...
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Target, Klarna and Sesame Street's new addy

May 23, 2025 • 9 mins
Can you tell me how to get... how to get to Indicators of the Week? This week's econ roundup looks at Target's sagging sales, Klarna's pay-later problem, and Sesame Street's new streaming address.

Related:
When do boycotts work? (Apple / Spotify)
Buy now, pay dearly?

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

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How Trump is making coin from $TRUMP coin

May 22, 2025 • 9 mins
Just before Trump began his second administration in January, he and his business partners launched the $TRUMP coin. It's a meme coin that quickly raked in hundreds of millions of dollars. And there's a lot of earning potential still left on the table. Is any of this legal?

Today on the show, we examine how the $TRUMP coin works and talk to an expert about how the president's meme coin gambit interacts with the Foreign Em...
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The old trade war that brought foreign carmakers to the U.S.

May 21, 2025 • 8 mins
President Donald Trump wants more products made in America, and he's not afraid of a few trade wars to make it happen. Back in the 80s, a different trade dispute brought new manufacturing to the U.S. Today on the show, how former President Ronald Reagan used the threat of trade protectionism to bring car-making stateside, and why the same strategy might not work today.

Related episodes:
The tensions behind the sale of U...
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The rise of the credit card airport lounge

May 20, 2025 • 9 mins
We are back to answer your questions, listeners. Today on the show, we tackle three big questions: Are airport lounges worth it for credit card companies? How effective have carbon taxes been for Canada? Why is gasoline getting more expensive over the last few months as the price of crude oil has sunk?

If you want to submit your OWN question to be considered in a future episode, send us a message at indicator@npr.org.
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The Art of the Deal ft. Beyoncé

May 19, 2025 • 8 mins
All of us negotiate — whether it's accepting a job offer, buying a house or working out who does the dishes. Economist Daryl Fairweather has a new book out: Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work. It's all about the negotiation lessons she's learned through the research, her own career and Destiny's Child.

Related episodes:
What women want (to invest in)
A conversation with Nobel laureate Clau...
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