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. Sign up for our newsletter . Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including bonus episodes for Planet Money and sponsor-free listening for The Indicator.
Rising geopolitical tensions between Europe and the United States, particularly regarding friction over Greenland, are prompting European leaders to evaluate their economic leverage. Central to this arsenal is the "anti-coercion mechanism," a legal tool designed to penalize foreign companies or restrict market access b...
Pakistan faces a chronic economic crisis driven by a severe tax collection deficit, where only two to three percent of the population files income tax returns compared to nearly half of Americans. While 40% of the country lives below the poverty line, a wealthy elite frequently reports zero income, prompting the Federa...
This episode of The Indicator from Planet Money analyzes three economic indicators. First, it examines the World Economic Forum in Davos, noting Larry Fink's efforts to revitalize the event and the contentious discussions between global leaders. Second, it addresses the impact of American tariffs, citing a German resea...
The American diet is undergoing a government-led shift as the Trump administration introduces an inverted food pyramid that prioritizes animal proteins and healthy fats over carbohydrates. This policy change, championed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., seeks to end the "war on saturated fats" by elevating foo...
Greenland’s vast mineral potential has become a focal point of geopolitical competition as the United States seeks to secure supply chains for rare earth elements currently dominated by China. Australian geologist Greg Barnes spent decades developing the Tanbreeze site, a massive deposit of eudialyte containing mineral...
The Trump administration’s executive order threatening to ban defense contractors from paying dividends or conducting stock buybacks signals a shift toward greater state intervention in the private defense sector. This policy stems from frustration over production delays for critical munitions like Tomahawk missiles, a...
The Trump administration has allocated $100 million for a "Wartime Recruitment Strategy" to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), specifically targeting Gen Z and millennials through an $8 million influencer marketing program. This initiative aims to "humanize" ICE careers via social media storytelling, con...
The Trump administration is reviving and reinterpreting the 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine to assert American dominance over the Western Hemisphere, a shift dubbed the "Don Roe Doctrine." This policy signals a move away from post-1945 global cooperation toward a "spheres of influence" model designed to counter Chinese ec...
Economic narratives—contagious stories that spread through society—function as powerful data points that drive financial decisions and institutional change. While traditional economics relies on hard numbers, Nobel laureates Robert Shiller and Daron Acemoglu argue that simple, catchy stories propagated by high-status i...
The Federal Reserve faces an unprecedented legal challenge as the Department of Justice initiates a criminal investigation into Chair Jerome Powell regarding cost overruns in Fed building renovations. While the administration cites a 32% budget increase to $2.5 billion and alleged discrepancies in Powell's congressiona...
American philanthropy lacks the financial capacity to replace government social safety nets despite the nation's high rate of private giving. While Michigan foundations successfully mobilized $2 million to provide emergency SNAP benefits during a federal funding freeze, this intervention remains an unsustainable except...
The U.S. labor market is experiencing a cooling trend, with December data showing a modest addition of 50,000 jobs alongside significant downward revisions for previous months. A central concern emerging from this shift is the displacement of teenage workers by artificial intelligence, particularly in service sectors. ...
Venezuela’s oil industry faces a precarious future despite possessing some of the world's largest reserves. While recent political rhetoric suggests American oil was "stolen," historical reality reveals a complex transition from the 1970s nationalization to the 2000s expropriations under Hugo Chávez. Francisco Monaldi,...
Instacart recently faced scrutiny following research from groups like the Groundwork Collaborative, led by Lindsay Owens, which revealed that grocery stores were using AI-driven "price testing" to charge different customers varying amounts for identical items. An experiment involving 400 shoppers found that 75% of item...
The cocaine supply chain transforms ordinary coca leaves from high-altitude Andean farms into a high-value global commodity, escalating in price from $2,000 per kilogram in South America to over $60,000 on United States streets. Journalist Jan Grillo explains how traffickers shifted routes from direct Caribbean flights...
China is leveraging its massive consumer market to conduct state-organized boycotts against Japan following diplomatic friction over Taiwan. While traditional boycotts are bottom-up movements, Beijing utilizes "plausible deniability" by framing these restrictions as organic public outrage, effectively blurring the line...
This episode of The Indicator from Planet Money discusses the economic situation in Venezuela, providing background on its decline under Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro, including hyperinflation and a large refugee outflow. It features an economist, Gabriela Sade, who describes the shift towards de facto dollarization a...
The Indicator from Planet Money hosts Wailin Wong, Stephen Passaha, and Cooper Katz McKim discuss the "Indicator of the Year" for 2025, which was tariffs, chosen by listeners. They then forecast three key economic indicators for 2026. Wailin highlights the federal funds rate, focusing on potential shifts in Federal Res...
The Indicator from Planet Money discusses the trend of decreasing interstate mobility among Americans. It explores how Americans are moving less for work compared to 30 years ago, with movers at around half the rate. The episode examines potential reasons for this decline, including industry and education, political so...
The Indicator from Planet Money explores the concept of a "second Gilded Age," drawing parallels between the late 1800s and the present day. Hosts Darian Woods and Adrian Ma, along with historians Edward T. O'Donnell and Rebecca Edwards, discuss the economic boom, technological advancements, wealth inequality, and poli...
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