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Planet Money

Planet Money

By: NPR
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Wanna see a trick? Give us any topic and we can tie it back to the economy. At Planet Money, we explore the forces that shape our lives and bring you along for the ride. Don't just understand the economy – understand the world.

Wanna go deeper? Subscribe to Planet Money+ and get sponsor-free episodes of Planet Money, The Indicator, and Planet Money Summer School. Plus access to bonus content. It's a new way to support the show you love. Learn more at plus.npr.org/planetmoney
Copyright 2015-2021 NPR - For Personal Use Only Economics Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Can the Trump administration make college cheaper?

    Can the Trump administration make college cheaper?
    Jul 1 2026
    Will limiting how much students can borrow force schools to lower their prices?

    The Department of Education thinks so. It has a new plan to bring down tuition costs. Starting today, July 1st, it’s going to cap how much it’s willing to loan to graduate students.

    You read that right. To reduce the burden of school…the plan is to give students less money to pay for school.

    This plan is, in part, based on an idea that’s been floating around higher education circles for decades: The Bennett Hypothesis, which claims there’s a direct relationship between student borrowing and tuition prices. And therefore, if the Department of Education — the biggest student loan provider in the country — limits how much students can take out, then schools will have no choice but to charge students less.

    This hypothesis was floated roughly 40 years ago...without evidence. But now, as the Trump administration rolls out their Bennettian plan, we have decades of data to see how true this hypothesis is.

    Today on the show: NPR Education Correspondent Cory Turner explains this theory, and what the new plan influenced by it will mean for borrowers this fall.

    Other notes:

    • Bill Bennett: “Our Greedy Colleges”
    • Cory Turner: "July 1 brings big student loan changes. Here's what you need to know"
    • The Indicator: "What you should know about your student loans"

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    This episode was hosted by Cory Turner and Kenny Malone. It was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Marianne McCune. It was fact-checked by Charlotte Isidore and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

    Music: NPR Source Audio - “Morning Chorus,” “Belle Mar,” and “The Sky Was Orange.”

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    29 mins
  • How to win a penalty shootout (with game theory)

    How to win a penalty shootout (with game theory)
    Jul 3 2026
    Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest soccer scorer of all time. But when it comes to penalty kicks, Messi is merely average. Why? Maybe the answer involves game theory.

    According to game theory, there’s an optimal strategy for taking penalty kicks. This strategy involves an idea that was once somewhat controversial in economics — that is, until economists started studying soccer players in real life.

    On today's show, we kick it over to the hosts of the Soccernomics podcast to explain how game theory has changed soccer, and how soccer has changed game theory.

    Watch the penalty shootout between Manchester United and Chelsea in the Champions League final in 2008.

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    Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter
    Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletter

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    This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peaslee with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Annlie Huang. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

    The Soccernomics episode was originally hosted by Ashish Malhotra, Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski and sound designed by Alex Roldan.

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    18 mins
  • Our mission: Find the world’s best economic ideas (Summer School World Tour)

    Our mission: Find the world’s best economic ideas (Summer School World Tour)
    Jul 8 2026
    Come along as we travel the world in search of the best economic ideas to bring home!

    From the beaches of Barbuda to the fjords of Norway, there's money (and money problems) everywhere. For this summer travel season, Planet Money Summer School will take you on a world tour for your ears. Pack that sense of wonder and nose for adventure, this is our semester abroad. We’re going to explore exotic locales and discover cultural norms, but we’re also going to buckle down and learn the biggest economic lessons around the world from our guides.

    We start as far away as you can get from Planet Money headquarters, New Zealand and Australia. We’ll visit a sheep farm to observe an innovative but controversial market for the most important substance on earth, and we’ll ask when do speculators help and when do they hurt the rest of us? Then, we’ll get to know the economist – and jazz musician – who changed how the entire world fights inflation when he released a secret number to tame the dreaded wild beast. How did that work? Spoiler: it was the great leap forward in economic mind tricks.


    Featured Episodes:
    • Liquid Markets (2021)
    • The Secret Target (2018)

    Featured Terms:
    • Multiple equilibria
    • Inflation targeting
    • Speculators (impact on liquidity)
    Support:
    • Planet Money+

    Read:
    • Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life (Audiobook here)
    • Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter
    • Our weekly Indicator link round-up newsletter

    Follow:
    • Instagram
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
    • Facebook

    This episode of Planet Money Summer School is hosted by Robert Smith. It was produced by Sophia Paliza-Carre, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Annlie Huang with help from Robert Rodriguez.

    Music: NPR Source Audio - "The Boy from Ipanema," "Desmontes," "Long Drive,” and “Bondi.”


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    37 mins
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Love the show. it has got too political at some point, but it still has great episodes.

Facts, not only opinions.

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