Category: 3-EconSometimeCommentary

Who makes the stacks of fake cash used in movies — and how do they stay clear of counterfeit law? Zachary Crockett follows the fake money. This episode was originally published on September 3rd, 2023.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Live event info and tickets here.

The Supreme Court has spoken. Those big, sweeping tariffs that President Trump imposed early last year? They’re illegal. 

On today’s show: Why were those tariffs struck down? Will anyone get refunds? And …what about this new 10 percent tariff the President just announced today? 

Plus — a growing market for tariff refunds.

Further Listening:

- Worst. Tariffs. Ever. 
- Tariffs: What are they good for? 
- What "Made in China" actually means
- The 145% tariff already did its damage 
- Are Trump's tariffs legal?
- Days of our Tariffs 
- Trump's backup options for tariffs 
- What would it mean to actually refund the tariffs? 

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

Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo, Mary Childs, and Sarah Gonzalez. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and Willa Rubin. It was edited by Marianne McCune. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer. 

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

How do you turn an empty house into a buyer’s dream home? Zachary Crockett pulls back the curtain. This episode was originally published on August 27th, 2023.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Book tour and ticket info here.


Greenland has said it is not for sale. Denmark has said it can’t even legally sell Greenland. And at a security conference in Munich over the weekend, U.S. lawmakers spent a lot of time trying to walk back some of President Trump’s recent threats to try to buy, or even take over, the territory. 

But whether Trump can or will or should try to control or purchase a territory that doesn’t want to be sold is not the interesting question. What is interesting is how we got to this moment. And, how we might gracefully get out of it. 

Greenland is valuable for its minerals and because of its physical location in the world. (It’s easy to keep an eye on other countries from Greenland).

Our latest: How the U.S. dropped the ball on the rare earths race. And one way the U.S. gets strategic locations without threatening to buy or take over an entire territory.


Further listening: 

- Is Greenland really an untapped land of riches?

- Add to cart: Greenland


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

Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Marianne McCune. Fact-checking help from Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Kwesi Lee and Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

Music: Universal Music Production - "The Attraction,” “Carnivore,” and “Walls Come Out.”

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Chris Coyne talks with Abigail Hall and Jayme Lemke about Kenneth and Elise Boulding’s insights into what it means to build and sustain peace. Drawing on her paper “In Search of Stable Peace,” Hall explores Kenneth Boulding’s framework for understanding peace and war, focusing on the roles of strain and strength and the shifting taboo lines that shape movement between stable and unstable peace. Lemke then turns to Elise Boulding’s vision of peace as an active, everyday practice, emphasizing the often-overlooked forms of peacebuilding embedded in ordinary social relationships and institutions. Together, the conversations emphasize peace as a process shaped by ideas, institutions, and imagination.

Dr. Abigail R. Hall is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Tampa and a Senior Affiliated Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She has published numerous books, including her most recent satirical book, How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite co-authored with Christopher J. Coyne (2024). She holds a PhD in Economics from George Mason University and is an alum of the Mercatus PhD Fellowship.

Dr. Jayme Lemke is a Senior Research Fellow and 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 co-editor of Economy, Polity, and Society, an Associate Editor for the Review of Behavioral Economics, and Secretary of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics.

Show Notes:

• The Journal of Conflict Resolution

• Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace (University of Texas Press, 1978)

• Robert Higgs’s book, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (Independent Institute, 2025)

• Elise Boulding’s book, Cultures of Peace (Syracuse University Press, 2000)

• Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (University of Michigan Press, 1956).

• Elise Boulding’s book, The Underside of History: A View of Women Through Time (SAGE Publications, 1992)

• Julian Simon’s book, The Ultimate Resource 2 (Princeton University Press, 1998)

**This episode was recorded September 15, 2025 and December 29, 2025.

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

The most popular song of the 20th century — and a key part of a ubiquitous American ritual — was also the subject of a years-long legal battle. Zachary Crockett blows out the candles. This episode was originally published on August 13th, 2023.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Book tour event details and ticket info here.

An iconic cartoon character liberated from copyright, journalism from the world of competitive spreadsheeting, a controversial piece of US currency. Each year the Planet Money team dedicates an episode to the things we simply love and think you, our audience, will also love.

In this year’s Valentine’s Day episode:

• The Public Domain Day list from Jennifer Jenkins’ of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain and her colleagues. 
• Jesse Dougherty’s article “Between the sheets at the college Excel Championship” which is behind a paywall. Here is Jesse’s substack. 
• 404 Media’s excellent journalism on the tech that ICE is using
• An ode to the language of the penny, including songs like Pennies from Heaven. 
• The only self-check out that doesn’t waste your time. 
• And we made public domain Valentine’s cards. 

Download THE OFFICIAL Planet Money valentine here.

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

Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Kenny Malone. It was produced by James Sneed with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, engineered by Cena Loffredo & Kwesi Lee, and edited by our executive producer Alex Goldmark.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Does anyone ever win the giant teddy bear? Zachary Crockett steps right up. This episode was originally published on August 6th, 2023.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Book tour tickets and details here.

Today, the story of three inventions. The first, the sewing machine, was created by a selfish and ambitious inventor who wanted all the credit and was willing to fight a war for it. 

The second, a more modern invention, was made by an Italian inventor who wanted only to connect the world through video, so “evvvvverybody can talk with evvvvverybody else.”

And, a third invention that tied them both together across more than a century. The patent pool.

How do people get motivated to invent, and how do they get rewarded for their ideas? Usually through a patent. And, when the thicket of patents become too thick, how do we simplify, and make it so inventors can work together? The answer will involve bitter rivals, a sewing machine war, the nine no-no’s of anti-trust, and something called a gob-feeder. 

Subscribe to Planet Money+

Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was produced by Luis Gallo and edited by Marianne McCune. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Most sports bars rarely screen women's games. Zachary Crockett taps into the strategy of one woman who set out to change the channel. This episode was originally published on July 30th, 2023.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.