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

November 21, 2025 9 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 effects of pay transparency, Meta’s big win, and freaky flies and beef. 

Related episodes: 

Are we entering a new dawn for antitrust enforcement? 

Why beef prices are so high 


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When people lose their homes to wildfire, hurricanes or flooding, they're eager to rebuild. But scammers are also ready to take advantage. On today’s show, the lucrative business of contractor fraud and advice on how to avoid them. 

Related episodes:
An indicator lost: Big disaster costs 
When insurers can’t get insurance 
Selling safety in the fight against wildfires 

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November 19, 2025 8 mins
Foreign automakers already have huge assembly plants in the U.S., but lots of parts and materials come from overseas. 

To avoid costly tariffs, they gotta buy American. But … How does one meet those suppliers? How do you build a new relationship with them?

The answer: Speed dating. 

Related episodes:

 The old trade war that brought foreign carmakers to the U.S.

Tariffs: What are they goo...
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November 18, 2025 9 mins

The U.S. labor market is stagnant right now, with little hiring and lots of people holding onto their jobs for dear life. In Denmark, there’s a different kind of labor system where it’s easy for employers to hire and fire, but at the same time people have a strong safety net in-between jobs. Today on the show, we learn how “flexicurity” works through the story of a Danish woman who left her job, and we ask how the mode...

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November 17, 2025 8 mins

Ever put in the winning bid for something on an auction site only to realize you significantly overpaid? Yeah, there’s a phrase for that. On today’s show: the winner’s curse.

Richard Thaler’s new book with Alex O. Imas is The Winner’s Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies, Then and Now.

Read Planet Money’s newsletter on the winner’s curse

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It’s … Indicators of the Week! We look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news and bring them to you.

On today’s episode: The cost of living is outstripping wage growth for most of us, the math behind the Trump administration’s proposed 50-year mortgages, and how we’re just giving Uber and Lyft free money

Related episodes: 

Trump's plans for the housing market 

The Money ...
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The U.S. is committed to bailing out Argentina to the tune of $20 billion using a little known mechanism called the Exchange Stabilization Fund. On today’s show, what is this fund, why was it created and does Argentina have any hope of paying it back? 

Related episodes: 
Dollarizing Argentina  

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November 12, 2025 8 mins

The U.S. Supreme Court may soon rule on President Trump’s favorite tariff law.  It could render them moot, but that doesn’t mean the end of tariffs. On today’s show, we explain the president’s back-up options for imposing tariffs.

Related episodes: 
Are Trump’s tariffs legal? 
Worst. Tariffs. Ever.  
Three ways companies are getting around tariffs   

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November 11, 2025 9 mins
The World Cup is coming up, and it’s going to cost a pretty penny if you are hoping to attend. Today on the show, we talk to NPR Senior Business editor and World Cup superfan about why the 2026 World Cup will likely be the most expensive in history and why even finding a ticket is more difficult. 

Related episodes: 

Peacock, potassium and other Paris Olympics Indicators

Why the Olympics cost so much
<...
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France has one of the most generous pension systems in the world. But several governments there have collapsed over questions about how the government will fund it. All over the world, aging populations are forcing governments to rethink their assumptions. 

Today on the show, what France’s political fiascos teach all of us about the economics of an aging population, and what a retirement expert’s ideal retirement system mi...
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There’s one job that gets all the attention during a government shutdown: air traffic controllers. Today on the show, we spotlight why this job has taken on outsize political influence and one controller’s experience during the longest shutdown on record. 

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

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The “Shiller PE Ratio” is at its highest level since November of 1999. That was at the peak of the online gold rush right before the dot com bubble burst in 2000. Today on the show, we learn what the Shiller PE Ratio is, how it works and whether we should be worried that it’s relatively high right now.


You can find John Campbell's book here: Fixed: Why Personal Finance is Broken and How to Make It Work for Everyone
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November 5, 2025 8 mins
Russia’s been subject to more than 5,000 sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine. Yet many purported allies of Ukraine are still getting Russian oil — directly or indirectly. On today’s show, how governments are straddling the fence and skirting their own sanctions. 

Related episodes:  
How the ‘shadow fleet’ helps Russia skirt sanctions 

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Last month, the Trump administration asked Apple to remove an app from its App Store that crowdsourced sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Today on the show, we explain what an ongoing legal battle involving the developer of the video game Fortnite has to do with Apple’s latest move to comply with the Trump administration.

Related episodes: 
How Fortnite brought Google to its knees
The DOJ's case...
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November 3, 2025 9 mins

Companies are starting to use AI to interview potential employees. Sound creepy? Well, a new study suggests it might not be all bad.. Today on the show, we look at why a job interview with AI might be preferable to one with a human. ? And Adrian gets grilled by an AI job recruiter named “Anna.” 

Related episodes: 
AI creates, transforms and destroys … jobs 
Fighting AI with AI 

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It’s … Indicators of the…Eek! (Indicators of the Week.) Our regular look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news. 

On today’s episode: How cell phone bans in schools affect grades, white collar workers get the axe, and AHHH! Halloween candy inflation

Related episodes: 

Are you afraid of inflation? 

A finance fright fest 

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October 30, 2025 8 mins
China and India have a long, complicated history. Just a few years ago, there was a spate of armed skirmishes between the two nations. And yet, there are signs of warming relations amidst President Trump’s ongoing trade war. Today on the show, is that trade war pushing India toward China? And what could happen if two of the world’s largest economies come together? 

Related episodes: 
China’s trade war perspective 
Wh...
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Health insurance subsidies are at the center of the current government shutdown. Democrats want to extend some expiring Affordable Care Act/Obamacare subsidies. Obamacare has weathered several political storms since its inception, but how will it fare without those subsidies?

Today on the show, death spirals and the future of Obamacare.

Related episodes: 
The hidden costs of healthcare churn 
How doctors he...
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Republican politicians like to use the term ‘Marxist’ to criticize Democrats. Lately, they’ve dubbed New York City mayoral candidate a ‘Marxist’ despite him identifying himself as a democratic socialist. Today on the show, we dig into what ‘Marxism, as an economic term,’ actually means.

Related episodes: 
Socialism 101
Even the facts are polarized

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October 27, 2025 9 mins
It’s hard for young tech workers to find a job, even with the AI buildout bonanza. This has spawned a curious worldview that fears AI is coming for our jobs and a drive to be at the top of the AI food chain. This, tech writer Jasmine Sun believes, is revealed in the emerging dialect of Silicon Valley tech workers.   

Today on the show, San Francisco slang. Jasmine Sun takes us on a tour of high-agency 996ers and NPCs to se...
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