Episodes

  • The skyscrapers that NIMBYs and zoning couldn't stop

    The skyscrapers that NIMBYs and zoning couldn't stop
    Mar 28 2026
    LIVE SHOW TOUR INFO HERE. New stories, live tapings, special guests, book signings and more.

    What would you build on a piece of land when all the normal rules go out the window?

    On today’s show, how the Squamish Nation reclaimed a sliver of prime urban real estate and were liberated from zoning restrictions, to the consternation of their wealthy NIMBY neighbors.

    We trace the 100 year saga of what might be the most interesting real estate development in North America right now: There’s a violent eviction, a tense legal battle, and a giant, tough decision for the Squamish Nation that culminates in the daring project that they’re building today.

    It’s a story with lessons for every city trying to lower housing costs and build more.

    This episode is adapted from Planet Money: A Guide To The Economic Forces That Shape Your Life. Pre-order before April 7 and you can get a poster. Details here.

    The working paper we mentioned on “ready-to-issue” permits in Los Angeles.

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    This episode was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler with an assist from Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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    22 mins
  • Our BOOK vs. the global supply chain

    Our BOOK vs. the global supply chain
    Mar 26 2026
    When you come across a book at a yard sale or a bookstore, you might pay more attention to the words between the covers than the physical form of the book itself. But content and the form are both crucial to a book’s success. Each book you pull off the shelf, is the product of thousands of decisions, big and small, tying together vast supply chains and armies of workers from around the world.

    On today’s episode, the second episode in our series: Planet Money sets out to actually write, design, and manufacture a book. We go spelunking deep inside the bowels of the publishing industrial complex. There will be trade wars, sunken cargo containers filled with lost cookbooks, deforestation regulations, and just a whiff of scratch and sniff.

    Related:

    - Episode 1: Inside a BOOK auction
    - The laws of the office revisited
    - Series: Planet Money makes a book

    Live event info and tickets here.

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    This episode was produced by Willa Rubin. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.


    Music: NPR Source Audio - “Motivation Or Mayhem,” “Missing A Deadline,” and “No Limits After All.”

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    47 mins
  • Inside a BOOK auction

    Inside a BOOK auction
    Mar 21 2026
    In the age of TikTok and Polymarket, it can be easy to overlook the humble book. But books are one of the most influential technologies ever invented. From “The Wealth of Nations” to “Das Kapital,” books have the power to shape whole economic systems… and everything else in our world. The market for books can determine which ideas make it to the masses.

    So when Planet Money was approached to make its own book, not only did it present an opportunity to spread the gospel of whimsical economic infotainment to new audiences everywhere, but it also presented an opportunity to get a rare peek behind the curtain of the notoriously opaque world of publishing.

    On today’s episode, the first chapter in our series on the making of a book: Planet Money sets out to land a book deal. We enter the high stakes, high school drama of the publishing industry, where literary agents try to woo powerful book editors. And we learn what happens when lofty artistic ideals meet the cold logic of the market. It’s a courtship dance with millions of dollars potentially on the line. There will be whale fights, corporate speed dating, and a literary shotgun wedding.

    Live event info and tickets here.

    Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+

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    This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with production help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

    Music: NPR Source Audio - “Run Baby Run,” “Lay It Down,” and “Lazy Ringer.”

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    43 mins
  • The little pet fish that saved a town in the Amazon

    The little pet fish that saved a town in the Amazon
    Mar 18 2026
    The cardinal tetra is one of the most popular pet fish in the world. They look like little red and blue sequins. You've almost certainly seen them at the pet store or the fish tank at your dentist's office. They're everywhere.

    Not so long ago, most of the world's supply of cardinals came from just one place. It's a little town deep in the rainforests of Brazil, where locals still catch these fish by hand. But the business that this town has relied on for decades has come under threat.

    Recently, we hopped on a plane to see this unusual economy for ourselves — and, two different visions for how to save it.

    For more information about these fish, check out Project Piaba.

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    This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo. It was co-reported and produced by Luis Gallo. It was edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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    33 mins
  • Chef vs. Robot

    Chef vs. Robot
    Mar 13 2026
    Robby the chef has lots of endearing qualities. He can make over 5000 dishes, he’s a consistent cook, and he’s never late for work. But he’s not a human. It is a 750 lb. stainless steel robot. With a rotating wok at its center. It’s a wok-bot.

    Automation has changed many industries. But automation only started entering restaurant kitchens in the past couple decades. Which raises the question – what will robots mean for the restaurant industry? How will automation change jobs and how will it change the very food we eat?

    Today on the show, we talk with a Nobel prize-winning economist, Daron Acemoglu, about when automation is complementing or displacing workers. And we decide to put this wok-bot to the test. We pit a human chef against Robby the wok-bot in a head-to-metalhead smackdown.

    Further Listening/Reading:
    • How AI could help rebuild the middle class
    • The Big Red Button
    • Check out our AI series: Planet Money makes an episode using AI
    • Why Nations Fail, America Edition (newsletter)
    • A New Way To Understand Automation (newsletter)
    Get your book tour tickets here. / Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift.

    Subscribe to Planet Money+

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    This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Justin Kramon. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Robert Rodriguez with help from Cena Loffredo. Interpretation help from Huo Jingnan. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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    26 mins
  • The laws of the office revisited

    The laws of the office revisited
    Mar 11 2026
    Live event info and tickets here.

    If something is going wrong in your workplace, there's probably a law that explains why. Meetings always seem long, and never end early? There’s Parkinson’s Law, which says work expands to the time allotted, or, restated: meetings will always take up all the time blocked on Outlook calendars. Is your boss bad at managing? Check the Peter Principle, which says people are promoted to their level of incompetence. A good worker does not a good manager make. And yet … here we are. Once you hear these laws, and a few others, you start to spot them everywhere.

    Today on the show, we picked a few of the most famous and powerful ‘laws of the office’ and tested them out on each other.

    Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+

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    This episode was hosted by Kenny Malone, Sarah Gonzalez, and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. Bryant Urstadt edited this show. Planet Money’s executive producer is Alex Goldmark.

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    30 mins
  • Planet Money vs. the NBA’s tanking problem

    Planet Money vs. the NBA’s tanking problem
    Mar 6 2026
    What do we want from sports? The very best athletes competing as hard as they know how, putting all their effort and training and natural ability to the test against their opponents. But this time of year, that’s not the product the NBA is putting on the court. Instead, teams at the bottom of the league are competing … to lose, because it could help them get a top pick in next year’s draft. It’s called tanking — it’s bad for fans, and it’s bad for the league.Tanking has gotten especially egregious this year. Even NBA Adam Silver has called out teams for tanking. He recently announced that league bigwigs are considering “every possible remedy” to “align incentives.”Today on the show — Planet Money fixes the NBA’s tanking problem by … fixing the NBA draft. We get solutions from Hockey Hall of Famer Jayna Hefford, World Cup Champion Sam Mewis, and long-time NBA analyst Zach Lowe. Handles for the NBA fans in the episode: thevoiceofevan, fullcourtblitz, ashleynevel, igotnxtpodcast, finesse.wes, basketballsavant, and mikedaddino__.Live event info and tickets here / Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or the NPR appFacebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly NewsletterThis episode was hosted by Keith Romer and Erika Beras. It was produced by James Sneed with an assist from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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    30 mins
  • The Business of Heated Rivalry

    The Business of Heated Rivalry
    Mar 4 2026
    Heated Rivalry, the steamy hockey romance show, was made for about $2 million per episode. That is remarkably cheap for an hour-long drama.

    Today on the show, a conversation with Heated Rivalry creators Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady about their television miracle on ice.

    It’s not just that the show was made efficiently and cleverly. Heated Rivalry comes from a Canadian economic system of making TV and movies that is completely different from how we do things in the US.

    In this episode of Planet Money, in partnership with the Pivot podcast co-hosted by Kara Swisher, we hear about a Canadian production model for making TV and movies and how it’s different from the U.S. model. And we learn what the experience of making Heated Rivalry teaches us about the current state of both industries.

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    The original Pivot episode from New York Magazine and The Vox Media Podcast Network was hosted by Kara Swisher, produced by Lara Naman, Zoë Marcus and Taylor Griffin and engineered by Brandon McFarland. Nishat Kurwa is Vox Media's Executive Producer of podcasts. This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Kenny Malone, produced by James Sneed, edited by Jess Jiang and fact-checked by Lara Naman. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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    28 mins