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Planet Money

By: NPR
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  • Summary

  • 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
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Episodes
  • The color monopoly

    The color monopoly
    Jul 20 2024
    In 2022, artist Stuart Semple opened up his laptop to find that all his designs had turned black overnight. All the colors, across files on Adobe products like Photoshop and Illustrator, were gone. Who had taken the colors away? The story of what happened begins with one company, Pantone.

    Pantone is known for their Color of the Year forecasts, but they actually make the bulk of their money from selling color reference guides. These guides are the standard for how designers pretty much anywhere talk about color.

    On today's show, how did Pantone come to control the language of the rainbow? We look back at the history of Pantone, beginning with the man who made Pantone into the industry standard. And, we hear from Stuart, who tried to break the color monopoly.

    Share your thoughts — What color should we choose to be Planet Money's color?

    This episode was hosted by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and Jeff Guo, and produced by Willa Rubin with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Debbie Daughtry with help from Carl Craft. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

    Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+     in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    22 mins
  • Summer School 2: The golden ages of labor and looms

    Summer School 2: The golden ages of labor and looms
    Jul 17 2024
    Who has the power? Workers or bosses? It changes through the ages, though it's usually the bosses. Today, we look at two key moments when the power of labor shifted, for better and worse, and we ask why then? What does history have to say about labor power right now?

    We travel to Sicily, Italy in the year 1347, where the bubonic plague is about to strike. The horror known as the Black Death will remake European society in countless ways, but we'll focus on one silver lining: how economic conditions shifted for workers.

    Then we head about 500 years into the future, to an English factory at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, where textile workers take up arms against the machines taking their jobs and show how rapidly labor supply and demand can change. This is the famed tale of the Luddites, now a byword for knee jerk anti-technology, but the true story has nuance and a desperate but rational violent rebellion.

    This series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Audrey Dilling. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Sofia Shchukina.

    Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in     Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    33 mins
  • Rooftop solar's dark side

    Rooftop solar's dark side
    Jul 12 2024
    4.5 million households in the U.S. have solar panels on their homes. Most of those customers are happy with it - their electricity bills have just about disappeared, and it's great for the planet. But thousands and thousands of people are really disappointed with what they've been sold. Their panels are more expensive than they should be, and they say it is hard to get someone to come fix them when they break.

    It turns out this sometimes crummy customer experience is no accident. It ties back to how big, national solar companies built their businesses in the first place. To entice people to install expensive solar panels, companies developed new financing models which cut upfront costs for customers. And they deployed lots and lots of salespeople to grow their businesses. But in the drive to get more households installing solar panels, consumer costs went up and the focus seemed to shift away from making sure those panels actually worked. All of this left some consumers feeling like they've been sold a lie.

    On today's episode, we look into how the residential solar business model has turned some people sour on solar. And we'll try to figure out where the industry could go from here.

    Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    27 mins
Economics Politics & Government
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Featured Article: The Best Business Podcasts to Listen to in 2022


The vast array of business podcasts available features everything from concrete solutions to common business quandaries, interviews with successful leaders and innovators, and in-depth analysis of the news and updates you need to know. Podcasts can play a regular role in your journey to business success. From corporate news to tips for investors and entrepreneurs, these business podcasts offer sound guidance.

Featured Article The Best Business Podcasts to Listen to in 2022

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Profile Image for Sara

Very Interesting

Its very interesting they talk about tax loopholes in a way that makes you want to listen to it.

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Best!

This is one of my all time favorite podcasts! keep up the great work 😃

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Profile Image for Jonathan

Incredibly informative analysis on... everything!

Amazing podcast, the energy of the hosts is unmatched (is it just me or does Mary sound exactly like Cortana?)
Everyone should be tuning into every episode.

The tax loophole is still my favorite episode... so far!!

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planet skibidi toilet slay


planet money is so slay and it made me do the griddy. it gave me skibidi rizz 🤔😨😪😧

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Nice

This show is a classic, everybody performs so great and such good stories, I highly suggest.
Thank you for reading 

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too much advertising

Way too much advertising which makes it real annoying to listen. otherwise the content is good.

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