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Planet Money The economy, explained, with stories and surprises. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, "Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy." Now imagine that's actually a fun evening. That's what we're going for at Planet Money. People seem to like it.
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The Economy Explained
Indicators of the Week: IPOs, ETFs, GHGs
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The Indicator

Indicators of the Week: IPOs, ETFs, GHGs

It's Indicators of the Week! The U.S. is using a lot more coal for electricity, the first Bitcoin ETF is finally here, and WeWork officially debuted on the New York Stock Exchange.

Indicators of the Week: IPOs, ETFs, GHGs

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Say my name
Franck Fife /AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

Say my name

by Sally Herships ,

Repeating a customer's name is a classic sales technique used by telemarketers to car salesmen. But can a salesperson use a customer's name too much?

Say my name

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Burnout (Classic)

The company SpotHero built a Zen Den to help employees avoid burnout. Stacey Vanek Smith/NPR hide caption

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Stacey Vanek Smith/NPR

Planet Money

Burnout (Classic)

All types of companies are struggling with burnout. Many try to fix it. Most of them fail. One exception: A 26-year-old call center manager, with stress balls and costumes in her arsenal. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

Burnout (Classic)

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Keep calm, it's just the bullwhip effect
PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator

Keep calm, it's just the bullwhip effect

The Indicator team plays a beer game to understand how the bullwhip effect tangles supply chains. And no, it's not beer pong.

Keep calm, it’s just the bullwhip effect

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Labor market trick or treat
Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

The Indicator

Labor market trick or treat

Trick or treat! As we all know, some indicators are sweet, but others are scary. Luckily, one economist is here to help us separate the tricks from the treats in our labor market.

Labor market trick-or-treat

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Bonus: Janet Jackson's 'Control'

Thirty-five years ago, Janet Jackson released an album that changed the course of her career, and of pop music. Blake Cale for NPR hide caption

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Blake Cale for NPR

Planet Money

Bonus: Janet Jackson's 'Control'

On the 35th anniversary of Janet Jackson's first No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit, our friends at It's Been A Minute look back at Control, her career-defining album that changed the trajectory of pop music in the late '80s and '90s.

Bonus: Janet Jackson's 'Control'

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BRAND new friends
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The Indicator from Planet Money

BRAND new friends

by Sally Herships , Stacey Vanek Smith

In advertising, there's always been an unspoken rule — never praise your competition. But one marketing professor's research shows that approach can actually be good for businesses and their brand.

BRAND new friends

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Indicators of the Week: strikes, prices, Black Friday deals
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The Indicator

Indicators of the Week: strikes, prices, Black Friday deals

Indicators of the Week! Prices are up again, but is it fair to call this 'transitory' inflation? Black Friday deals are early at stores anticipating supply-chain shortages. And America is on strike.

Indicators of the Week: strikes, prices, Black Friday deals

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Hire power
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Planet Money

Hire power

Noncompete agreements have become an integral part of job contracts. A show about what they are and how we got here. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

Hire power

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Congressional game theory
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The Indicator

Congressional game theory

For months, lawmakers have been negotiating two big spending bills with no end in sight. Game theory could explain the hidden strategies behind the congressional chaos.

Congressional game theory

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How Do You Feel? (Classic)

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Planet Money

How Do You Feel? (Classic)

We tend to think of economists as cold, unfeeling, attempting to be as rational as possible. But once a month, economists pick up the phone to just... check in with us. How are we feeling? Good, bad, worse than a year ago? It's a very specific phone call with very specific questions and a few years ago we looked into the origins of this very important survey that factors into economic decision making. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

How Do You Feel? (Classic)

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Simon says we're stuck with the debt ceiling

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The Indicator

Simon says we're stuck with the debt ceiling

by , Sally Herships

The debt ceiling approaches. A congressional standoff ensues. It wasn't always this way. So why did the debt ceiling get built? And how do other countries control their debt?

Simon says we're stuck with the debt ceiling

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A Nobel prize for an economics revolution
Cyrus Farivar/NPR

The Indicator

A Nobel prize for an economics revolution

Joshua Angrist, Guido Imbens and David Card won the economics Nobel on Monday. On today's show, we talk to the Princeton professor who mentored two of the winners.

A Nobel prize for an economics revolution

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A Nobel Prize for a revolution in economics

Goran K. Hansson (C), Permanent Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Nobel Economics Prize committee members Peter Fredriksson (L) and Eva Mork (R) give a press conference to announce the winners of the 2021 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. CLAUDIO BRESCIANI/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Ima hide caption

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CLAUDIO BRESCIANI/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Ima

Newsletter

A Nobel Prize for a revolution in economics

David Card, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens win a Nobel Prize for revolutionizing how economics is done.

LIBOR pains
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Planet Money

LIBOR pains

For decades, banks used one rate to help set all other rates: LIBOR. After it came out that it'd been rigged, regulators said: no more. Now it's a race — and a road trip — to find an alternative. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

LIBOR pains

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Jobs Friday: Where are all the older workers?
Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Indicator

Jobs Friday: Where are all the older workers?

by Sally Herships

Sure, some seniors took the pandemic as an opportunity to ride an RV into the sunset, but there's a darker story unfolding in today's jobs report. Today's show looks at the challenges many older worker can face as they try to reenter the workforce.

Jobs Friday: Where are all the older workers?

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A new decade for Bond
Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

A new decade for Bond

by , Sally Herships

Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond is coming to an end with the release of No Time To Die. With Amazon acquiring MGM, where does the 007 franchise go from here?

A new decade for Bond

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We set up an offshore company in a tax haven (Classic)

A beach in Belize, where we set up one of our shell companies (Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images) PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Planet Money

We set up an offshore company in a tax haven (Classic)

The Pandora Papers released this week reveal how many world leaders allegedly hold wealth through the use of shell companies. We listen back to when we set up our very own Planet Money shell companies.

We set up an offshore company in a tax haven (Classic)

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Technology brought to you by the s-curve
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The Indicator from Planet Money

Technology brought to you by the s-curve

by , Sally Herships

A lot of things grow slowly, then fast, then slow again. From the growth in smartphone users to the rise of vaccinations, the s-curve explains a huge part of technological, scientific and economic change.

Technology brought to you by the s-curve

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Facebook tries to save face
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The Indicator

Facebook tries to save face

by Sally Herships ,

Facebook's status hasn't been so hot of late. From internal documents leaked by a whistleblower to outages of hours. How does a company with millions of dissatisfied customers turn its image around?

Facebook tries to save face

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