When People Make Their Own Banks
by Marianne McCune
An ex-con lends money to people in need; a group of friends creates a savings club. Even without banks, people often figure out how to get the money they need, when they need it.
Planet Money stories air each week on All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Here are all of our stories from those shows.
by Marianne McCune
An ex-con lends money to people in need; a group of friends creates a savings club. Even without banks, people often figure out how to get the money they need, when they need it.
by Zoe Chace
"I understand that I'll probably end up paying a lot," one customer says. "But right now, I need the tires."
by Robert Smith
Coca-Cola is returning to Myanmar after 60 years. They'd been kept out of the country by international sanctions. This week they officially opened their new plant outside of Yangon.
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by Zoe Chace
The popular comedian Marc Maron, who works out of his garage in California, faces off with a patent holder who claims to have invented podcasting.
by Marianne McCune
Pledge 51 creates applications for Nigeria's low-tech cellphones. The company thinks it could grow its business with help from foreign investors, but Nigeria's low GDP has made that difficult. If the country changes the way it calculates this figure, that could help Pledge 51 bring in new investment.
by Robert Smith
In Myanmar — a country that's been cut off from the world for decades — it's still a surprise when money pops out of the ATM. That may soon change.
by Marianne McCune
A San Francisco dealer quadrupled his income by moving to New York after California legalized medical marijuana.
by Zoe Chace
It goes back to a single page in a report written decades ago by U.S. consultants, and funded by the U.S. State Department.
by Marianne McCune
Demand increased recently, leading to widespread shortages. An economics textbook would say ammo sellers should have raised prices rather than have empty shelves. But that hasn't happened.
Poachers kill rhinos for their horns. Some economists think legalizing the horns could save the rhinos.
Over the past decade, 39,000 people have come forward to tell the government they've been hiding money overseas. Here's what they tell us about offshore money.
by Robert Smith
Like people in other countries that have gone through economic turmoil, people in Myanmar want U.S. dollars that look like they just rolled off the presses.
by Chana Joffe-Walt
A young college grad asks an economist for advice.
by Marianne McCune
Chinese parents don't trust Chinese baby formula, so they pay a premium to have it shipped in from around the world.
by Zoe Chace
Candy makers and sugar farmers have been fighting for years in Congress. The sugar farmers are winning.