Category: 3-EconSometimeCommentary

The market for gustatory pain is surprisingly competitive. Zachary Crockett feels the burn.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Ed Currie, founder and president of the PuckerButt Pepper Company.
  • Stephanie Walker, associate professor and Extension Vegetable Specialist at New Mexico State University

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "Pepper X Dethrones Carolina Reaper as World’s Hottest Chili Pepper," by Sanj Atwal (Guinness World Records, 2023).
  • "The Shocking, Stupendous Rise of Superhot Chillies: ‘The Stomach Cramps Can Last for 14 Hours,’" by Tim Dowling (The Guardian, 2023).
  • "14-Year-Old Dies After Trying The Paqui ‘One Chip Challenge,’" by Bruce Y. Lee (Forbes, 2023).
  • "Beyond Neuronal Heat Sensing: Diversity of TRPV1 Heat-Capsaicin Receptor-Channel Functions," by Yaroslav M. Shuba (Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 2021).
  • "Training Your Tongue to Love Spicy Food Benefits More Than Your Taste Buds," by Maddie Oatman (Mother Jones, 2019).
  • "Fire-Eaters," by Lauren Collins (The New Yorker, 2013).
  • "The Arms Race to Grow World's Hottest Pepper Goes Nuclear," by Spencer Jakab (The Wall Street Journal, 2013).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Do People Love Horror Movies?" by No Stupid Questions (2022).
  • Hot Ones, YouTube talk show.

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Wherever consumer sentiment goes, consumer spending usually goes too. They’re like buddies that do everything together. Consumer sentiment wants a hair cut, its buddy consumer spending does too.

But lately, these friends are drifting apart.

While consumer sentiment about the economy is down … spending remains strong. 

And not just that… Interest rates are still high, inflation is growing, tariffs have made the prices of goods go up. And yet, consumer spending looks good. What gives?

Today - a consumer spending mystery. Is the economy actually healthy? Or is something distorting our view of the economy?

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This episode was hosted by Sarah Gonzalez and Kenny Malone. It was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Meg Cramer and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Debbie Daughtry and Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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Tariffs. They’ve been announced, unannounced, re-announced, raised and lowered. It’s an on-going saga with billions at stake!


On today’s episode, we run full-on at the twisty, turny drama of life with broad-based tariffs and tackle perhaps our most asked question: Are we, regular U.S. shoppers, feeling the tariffs yet? When we’re at the grocery store or the coffee shop, are we paying more for things because of the tariffs?


We now have the data to get a very clear answer to that question. Plus, we hear a cautionary tale from our dear colleague James Sneed, who ordered a collectible doll and wound up with a surprise tariff bill at his door.


Related episodes:

• Are Trump's tariffs legal? 
• What is Temu?
• What "Made in China" actually means

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This episode was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez with research help from Vito Emanuel. It was engineered by Jimmy Keeley and Maggie Luthar. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.


Music: NPR Source Audio - “Mirror,” “Remorse,” “Endless,” “Secrets,” “Schmaltzy,” “Water Mirror.”

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How much does it cost to design and build a mini-golf course? And what’s it like to run one? Zachary Crockett putts things in perspective.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Katie Conaboy, CEO and co-owner of Harris Miniature Golf.
  • Sal Conaboy, president and co-owner of Harris Miniature Golf.
  • Mike Matsinger, owner of Surf's Up Mini Golf.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Evolution of Miniature Golf," (National Golf Foundation, 2022).
  • "Who Made Mini-Golf?" by Hilary Greenbaum and Dana Rubinstein (New York Times, 2012).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • Harris Miniature Golf.
  • Surf's Up Mini Golf.

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Last month, during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States had offered to functionally loan Argentina $20 billion. Despite the sums involved, this bailout required no authorization from Congress, because of the loan’s source: an obscure pool of money called the Exchange Stabilization Fund. The ESF is essentially the Treasury Department’s private slush fund. 


Its history goes all the way back to the Great Depression. But, in the 90 years since its creation, it has only been used one time at this scale to bailout an emerging economy: Mexico, in 1995. That case study contains some helpful lessons that can be used to make sense of Bessent’s recent move. Will this new credit line to Argentina work out as well as it did the last time we tried it? Or will Argentina’s economic troubles hamstring the Exchange Stabilization Fund forever?


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This episode was hosted by Keith Romer and Erika Beras. It was produced by Luis Gallo. It was edited by Eric Mennel and fact checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2022.)

Every time you shop online and make it to the checkout screen, you see those colorful pastel buttons at the bottom. Affirm. Klarna. Afterpay. Asking: Do you want to split your payment into interest-free installments? No credit check needed. Get what you want, right now. 

That temptation got shoppers like Amelia Schmarzo into some money trouble. Back in 2022, she maxed out her credit card after a month of buying now and paying later. She’s not alone. Buy now, pay later is everywhere now. And you can finance almost anything with it. Your clothes, your furniture … even your lips. 

But if these companies don’t charge interest, how do they make money? In short, people buy more stuff using these services and so sellers are willing to pay up. Which makes buy now, pay later, something of a threat to credit card companies. Cue the tussle for your impulse-buying clicks. 

Today on the show, we find out how the companies work, who’s most likely to use these services and who’s getting a good deal. And a warning: those little loans will soon be on your credit report. 

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This episode was produced by Emma Peaslee, engineered by Josh Newell and edited by Molly Messick. Our update was reported by Vito Emanuel, produced by Willa Rubin, engineered by Gilly Moon and edited by our executive producer, Alex Goldmark.

Music: Universal Music Production - "Retro Funk," "Comin' Back For More," "Reactive Emotion," and "EAT."


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On this episode, Chris Coyne speaks with Michael Romero, Mikayla Novak, and Anna Claire Flowers about the enduring influence of Kenneth Boulding on how we understand peace and cooperation.

Romero discusses his paper “Markets as a Peace Lab,” coauthored with Virgil Storr, which explains how markets act as spaces where individuals cultivate trust, empathy, and peaceful exchange. Novak joins to discuss her paper “Kenneth Boulding’s The Image: A Cognitive Basis for Peace Entrepreneurship,” connecting Boulding’s insights on human cognition to the creative work of fostering peace. In the final part of the episode, Coyne and Flowers reflect on their coauthored paper “The Family and the Stable Peace,” highlighting how the family serves as a training ground for the habits and relationships that sustain cooperation. Together, these conversations show how Boulding’s vision of peace continues to shape research on economics, society, and human flourishing.

This is the second episode in a short series of episodes that will feature a collection of authors who contributed to the volume 1, issue 2 of the Markets & Society Journal or to a forthcoming special issue from The Review of Austrian Economics.

Dr. Michael R. Romero is Professor of Economics and Business at Thales College. Previously, he was an associate program director for Academic & Student Programs and a Research Fellow for the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is an alum of the Mercatus PhD Fellowship.

Dr. Mikayla Novak is a Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She is a contributing editorial board member of Cosmos + Taxis and recently was the editor of Liberal Emancipation: Explorations in Political and Social Economy (Springer Nature, 2025).

Anna Claire Flowers is a PhD student in Economics at George Mason University and is currently a fellow in the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Her research interests include family economics, in particular the economic significance of family relationships and the economic factors that influence family decision-making.

Show Notes:

• Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace (University of Texas Press, 1978)
• Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (University of Michigan Press, 1956).
• Elise Boulding’s book, Cultures of Peace (Syracuse University Press, 2000)
• Learning for Peace Initiative | United Nations Children’s Fund
• The Review of Austrian Economics
• F.A. Hayek’s book, The Sensory Order: An Inquiry into the Foundations of Theoretical Psychology (The University of Chicago Press, 1952)
• Gerald P. O’Driscoll and Mario Rizzo’s book, The Economics of Time and Ignorance (Routledge, 1996)
• Israel Kirzner’s book, The Meaning of the Market Process: Essays in the Development of Modern Austrian Economics (Routledge, 1992)

If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today!

Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram

Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

CC Music: Twisterium

How do flavorists capture the essence of a fruit and put it in a can of sparkling water, or a tub of yogurt? Zachary Crockett takes a bite.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Terry Miesle, master flavorist at Sensient Technologies Corporation.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "Flavor and Well‐Being: A Comprehensive Review of Food Choices, Nutrition, and Health Interactions," by Sakhawot Hossain, Abdul Wazed, Sharmin Asha, Alomgir Hossen, Nur Muhammad Fime, Shamiha Tabassum Teeya, Lubna Yeasmin Jenny, Diptho Dash, and Islam Shimul (Food Science & Nutrition, 2025).
  • "What is artificial banana flavor made of? A food neuroscientist reveals the truth," by Elana Spivack (Inverse, 2024).
  • "Are ‘Natural Flavors’ Really Natural?" by Roni Caryn Rabin (New York Times, 2019).
  • "The Inexorable Rise Of Synthetic Flavor: A Pictorial History," by Nadia Berenstein (Popular Science, 2015).
  • "The Flavor Industry: From 1945-1995," (Chemical Sources Association).

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When people in Maine prisons started getting laptops to use in their cells for online classes and homework, it sparked this new idea. Could they have laptops in their cells to work remotely for real outside world jobs, too??? And get real outside world wages?


Today on the show, we have reporting from Maine Public Radio’s Susan Sharon about a new experiment in prisons: remote jobs … paying fair market wages, for people who are incarcerated. 


Listen to Susan’s original reporting here: 


- In Maine, prisoners are thriving in remote jobs and other states are taking notice 

- Cracking the code: How technology and education are changing life in Maine prisons 


Related episodes:

- Fine and Punishment  

- Getting Out Of Prison Sooner 

- The Prisoner's Solution 

- Paying for the Crime 


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This episode was hosted by Sarah Gonzalez with reporting from Susan Sharon. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler with reporting help from Vito Emanuel. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez, with help from Patrick Murray. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer. 

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People in the U.S. are feeling the financial squeeze, in part because of rising inflation, higher consumer prices and slowing job growth. The Indicator from Planet Money is tackling a special series on the rising cost of living. Today, two stories from that series. 

First, what’s making ticket prices go up? We look at the economics behind the ticket market and how “reseller bots” are wreaking all sorts of havoc. The industry is not a fan, and yet they do serve an economic function. 

And… why pet care costs have surged. It comes down to unique skills, people’s love for their pets and something called the “Baumol effect.” 

Related episodes:
The Vet Clinic Chow Down 
What Do Private Equity Firms Actually Do? 
Kid Rock vs. The Scalpers 
Ticket scalpers: The real ticket masters 

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This episode is hosted by Darian Woods, Adrian Ma, and Wailin Wong. These episodes of The Indicator were originally produced by Cooper Katz McKim and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. They were fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Kate Concannon is The Indicator’s editor. Alex Goldmark is the Executive Producer. Music: NPR Source Audio - "Wow and Flutter,” “The Groove Carpenter,” and "I Need You"

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