Erika Beras Erika Beras is a reporter and host for NPR's Planet Money podcast.
Erika Beras, photographed for NPR, 2 August 2022, in New York, NY. Photo by Mamadi Doumbouya for NPR.
Stories By

Erika Beras

Mamadi Doumbouya/NPR
Erika Beras, photographed for NPR, 2 August 2022, in New York, NY. Photo by Mamadi Doumbouya for NPR.
Mamadi Doumbouya/NPR

Erika Beras

Host and Reporter, Planet Money

Erika Beras (she/her) is a reporter and host for NPR's Planet Money podcast.

Prior to joining the team in 2021 she spent four years as a reporter at Marketplace.

As a freelancer, she was a regular contributor to Scientific American podcasts and filed stories for NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Latino USA. She also contributed to PRI's The World, the BBC and Monocle 24 Radio and wrote stories for National Geographic and NewYorker.com.

Before that, she spent a decade as a staff reporter for NPR Member station WESA and at The Miami Herald.

Her reporting has taken her places as varied as The Democratic Republic of Congo, Switzerland and Erie, Pennsylvania.

She has been awarded grants, fellowships and awards from Radio Television Digital News Association, National Association of Science Writers, The International Center for Journalists, the International Women's Media Foundation, The Center for Health Reporting, The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, Third Coast International Audio Festival and others.

Beras is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. A native Spanish speaker, she grew up in New York City and lives in Pittsburgh.

Story Archive

Friday

Dancers Saya Date and Shashank Duggal (center couple) perform in the improvised "Tango de Pista" category at the annual Mundial de Tango competition in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Lucas Babic/NPR hide caption

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A black market, a currency crisis, and a tango competition in Argentina

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Friday

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Friday

Which parent does a school call first? 'Planet Money' has the answer

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Friday

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Friday

CHRISTINE OLSSON/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Ima

Friday

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Friday

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Binance lawsuit, bank failures and oil drilling

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Thursday

Our Planet Money team creates a record label to follow the money to music creators

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Friday

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Planet Money Records Vol. 3: Making a hit

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Friday

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 15: Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Phillip Swagel speaks during a news briefing on the release of new economic reports at Ford House Office Building on February 15, 2023 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption

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Recession, retail, retaliation

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Friday

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Our 2023 valentines

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Wednesday

Groundhog handler John Griffiths holds Punxsutawney Phil after he saw his shadow predicting six more weeks of winter during 128th annual Groundhog Day festivities on February 2, 2014 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images) Jeff Swensen/Getty Images hide caption

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Friday

Mandy Robek's classroom at Shale Meadows Elementary School in Lewis Center, Ohio. Emma Peaslee/NPR hide caption

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The economics lessons in kids' books

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Friday

Wednesday

Planet Money started a record label to release a 47-year-old song about inflation

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This song is nearly 5 decades long but its subject still hits home

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Saturday

Friday

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Planet Money Records Vol. 2: The Negotiation

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Wednesday

Earnest Jackson recorded his song "Inflation" in 1975, and never released it. He never got to hear "Inflation" on the radio. That's about to change. Sarah Gonzalez/NPR hide caption

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Planet Money Records Vol. 1: Earnest Jackson

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Friday

Jack Taylor/Jack Taylor

Indicators of the Week: Markets Edition

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Friday

Vibecession Vibe Session with Nikara Presents Black Wall Street James Sneed/James Sneed hide caption

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James Sneed/James Sneed

Vibecession Vibes Session

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Thursday

Some in Buckhead, the richest and whitest part of Atlanta, want it to be its own city

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Friday

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Thursday

A Russian ruble coin is pictured in front of the Kremlin in central Moscow. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images

The artificial strength of the Russian ruble

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