Category: 3-EconSometimeCommentary

(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.

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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)

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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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A day on the job includes hundreds of quarters, giant balls of lint, and fishing weird stuff out of machines. Zachary Crockett throws in a load.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Jordan Berry, owner of Laundromat Resource.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "Appliances in U.S. homes, by housing unit type, 2020," (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2023).
  • "How the Washing Machine Liberated The Masses," by Allen Therisa (Culturescape, 2023).
  • "Industry Overview," (Coin Laundry Association).

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This week’s SNAP crisis is just a preview. Tucked inside the giant tax-cut and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump this summer are enormous cuts to SNAP: Who qualifies, how much they get, and who foots the bill for the program. That last part is a huge change.

For the entire history of the food stamp program, the federal government has paid for all the benefits that go out. States pay part of the cost of administering it, but the food stamp money has come entirely from federal taxpayers. This bill shifts part of the costs to states.

How much will states have to pay? It depends. The law ties the amount to a statistic called the Payment Error Rate -- the official measure of accuracy -- whether states are giving recipients either too much, or too little, in food stamp money.

On today’s show, we go to Oregon to meet the bureaucrats on the front lines of getting that error rate down -- and ask Governor Tina Kotek what’s going to happen if they can’t.

Looking for hunger-relief resources? Try here.

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This episode was hosted by Nick Fountain and Jeff Guo. It was produced by James Sneed and Willa Rubin, edited by Marianne McCune and Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Debbie Daughtry and Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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For decades, the U.S. has been the single biggest source of remittances worldwide. A remittance is a transfer of money, typically from an immigrant to their family in their country of origin. But we are in the middle of a big, loud and very public immigration crackdown on those who are here without legal status. And that crackdown is disrupting the global remittance market. 

People who have come to the U.S. from a handful of countries — especially some Central American countries — have been sending more money back to their countries of origin. And it’s a bit of a puzzle because … you might think the opposite would be the case.

As immigration plummets, we try to figure out why remittances are surging in some countries, and not others. And we learn why a surge in money sent home inspires joy — but also fear.

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This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Greg Rosalsky. It was produced by Luis Gallo with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Marianne McCune with fact-checking help from Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Patrick Murray. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Nina Bandelj delivers a keynote lecture at the 2023 Markets & Society conference on the social life of money for children. Drawing on research about what she calls the “parenting economy,” she shows that parents increasingly treat children as human capital investments, using savings plans, loans, and educational spending to secure their futures. Bandelj argues that the financialization of family life reflects parental pressures and social inequality, calling for children to be seen as a shared public responsibility rather than private investments.

Dr. Nina Bandelj is Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine and the President of the Sociological Research Association. Her articles have been published in top discipline and specialty journals such as the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Theory and Society, and Socio-Economic Review. She has published various books, including Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting (Princeton University Press, forthcoming), Money Talks: Explaining How Money Really Works (Princeton University Press, 2017) coauthored with Frederick Wherry and Viviana Zelizer), and Socialism Vanquished, Socialism Challenged: Eastern Europe and China, 1989-2009 (Oxford university Press, 2012) coedited with Dorothy Solinger.

**This lecture was recorded October 22, 2023 at the second annual Markets & Society conference.

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

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Running a campground isn’t all eating s'mores around the campfire. Zachary Crockett fans the flames.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Mark Lemoine, owner, Coloma/St. Joseph KOA Holiday campground; sr. vice president, franchise operations at Kampgrounds of America.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Economic Impact of Parks," (National Recreation and Park Association, 2023).
  • "Campground Industry Analysis," (CHM Government Service, 2020).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • Coloma/St. Joseph KOA.

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