Category: 3-EconSometimeCommentary

How do you turn an empty house into a buyer’s dream home? Zachary Crockett pulls back the curtain.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Meredith Baer, founder of Meridith Baer Home.
  • Cindy Lin, founder and lead instructor at Staged4more School of Home Staging.
  • Karen Prince, author and home staging consultant.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing the Real Estate Game," by Kate Dubinski (C.B.C. News, 2023).
  • "Will Virtual Staging Replace Traditionally Staged Rooms?" by Barbara Ballinger (Realtor Magazine, 2022).
  • "Open Houses and Sticky Fingers," by Alix Strauss (The New York Times, 2022).
  • "Profile of Home Staging," by the National Association of Realtors Research Group (2021).
  • Secrets of Home Staging: The Essential Guide to Getting Higher Offers Faster, by Karen Prince (2021).
  • "How Meridith Baer Runs Her $100 Million Home Staging Business," by Jenna Wang (Forbes, 2019).
  • "Designer Meridith Baer’s Home-Staging Empire Began With a Plant Storage Dilemma," by Arielle Paul (Los Angeles Times, 2019).
  • "The Twilight Zone of Home Staging," by Peter Haldeman (The New York Times, 2016).
  • "The Story Seller," by Mark Oppenheimer (The New York Times Magazine, 2009).
  • Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money, by Barb Schwarz (2006).

 

English professor and Moby-Dick aficionado Hester Blum dives deep into whaling. To get subscriber-only episodes, sign up for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

The post The Appeal of the Open Seas appeared first on Freakonomics.

array(3) { [0]=> string(0) "" [1]=> string(0) "" [2]=> int(0) }

The Federal Reserve has been under intense pressure from President Donald Trump as he pushes for more control over the historically independent agency. The Fed is tasked with keeping inflation and unemployment under control, and it’s supposed to be insulated from politics so it can do whatever is necessary for the economy. But Trump has been openly saying he wants interest rates to be lower. A lot lower.

And on Monday, Trump posted a bombshell. He said that he was removing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, “for cause.” Lisa Cook has told NPR she intends to remain in office, and is now suing Trump. 

On today’s show: inside the Fed Board of Governors. How realistic is a plan to control monetary policy through loyalists on the Board? We hear from former Board governors to understand what the job is, and what we might be in for. 

Further listening on the Fed and Fed independence:

- A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence
- Happy Fed Independence Day
- The case for Fed independence in the Nixon tapes
- A Locked Door, A Secret Meeting And The Birth Of The Fed
- Trump's unprecedented attack on the Fed
- Turkey's runaway inflation problem 
- Should presidents have more of a say in interest rates?

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

Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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

NPR Privacy Policy

Patrick Deneen, a political philosopher at Notre Dame, says yes. He was a Democrat for years, and has now come to be seen as an “ideological guru” of the Trump administration. But that only tells half the story…

The post Has America Lost Its Appetite for the Common Good? appeared first on Freakonomics.

array(3) { [0]=> string(0) "" [1]=> string(0) "" [2]=> int(0) }

Get your own personalized summer school diploma here. 

Today on our final episode of Summer School 2025, we will test your knowledge. We will salute the unsung heroes of government service. And we will pick our valedictorian from among you of the class of 2025. 

Editorial Note:

President Trump attempted to fire Lisa Cook, a Biden appointee to the Federal Reserve Board. Our daily podcast, The Indicator, has coverage on their feed. We’ll have an episode in the Planet Money feed soon, in the meantime, here’s some background listening on why this is so important. 

Years before she joined the Fed, we profiled the work of Lisa Cook. Listen here.

Also these: 

• Happy Fed Independence Day

• A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence

• The case for Fed independence in the Nixon tapes

• Turkey's runaway inflation problem 

• Arthur Burns: shorthand for Fed failure? 

• Should presidents have more of a say in interest rates?

• Can the Federal Reserve stay independent? 

• It's hard out there for a Fed chair 

The series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Eric Mennel. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Emily Crawford.

Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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

NPR Privacy Policy

Bjørn Andersen has killed hundreds of minke whales. He tells us how he does it, why he does it, and what he thinks would happen if whale-hunting ever stopped. (This bonus episode is a follow-up to our series “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)

The post A Modern Whaler Speaks Up (Update) appeared first on Freakonomics.

array(3) { [0]=> string(0) "" [1]=> string(0) "" [2]=> int(0) }

They expose fraud, catch cheating spouses, and track down missing assets — but they don’t come cheap. Zachary Crockett takes the case.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Ashley Wardlow, chief operating officer at Nathans Investigations, owner of Wardlow Consulting.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "Eugène-François Vidocq and the Birth of the Detective," by Daisy Sainsbury (The Public Domain Review, 2024).
  • "The Pinkerton Story - Chapter 1," (The Pinkerton Foundation, 2017).
  • "Expectation of Privacy," (Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute).
  • "Evidence & Private Investigators," (Dugas Law Firm).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • "Private Investigation Equipment (Detective Store)."

 

In the past couple years, demand has gone wild for drugs like Ozempic – and its cousins, Zepbound, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. For people who had never been able to lose weight before, suddenly the numbers on the scale were plummeting. And everybody wanted to get their hands on them. 

Now, in most industries, if a product goes viral like this, it’s a golden ticket. And thanks to government-granted monopolies designed to encourage innovation, the big drug companies behind these blockbuster injections are currently the only ones allowed to make them.

In theory, anyway. 

But, what if that explosive demand backfired, opening the door to legal knock-offs? You’ve maybe seen them - copycats advertised as the same thing as Ozempic. So, what’s the difference? And just how legal are they? On today’s show - a drug that’s changing peoples lives is also challenging the traditional way we buy and sell medicine.

This episode was hosted by Sydney Lupkin and Jeff Guo. It was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Gilly Moon and Debbie Daughtry. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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

Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Music: Source Audio - “Subtly Silly Thug,” “Got The Moves,” and “Vive le Punk”

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

NPR Privacy Policy

In the final episode of our whale series, we learn about fecal plumes, shipping noise, and why Moby-Dick is still worth reading. (Part 3 of “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.“)

The post What Can Whales Teach Us About Clean Energy, Workplace Harmony, and Living the Good Life? (Update) appeared first on Freakonomics.

array(3) { [0]=> string(0) "" [1]=> string(0) "" [2]=> int(0) }

On this episode, Nathan Goodman interviews sociologist Timothy Dunn on the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and its consequences for human rights. Dunn discusses how U.S. border militarization grew out of the Cold War era “low intensity conflict” doctrine and was expanded by both parties through the 1990s strategy of “prevention through deterrence.” While this policy reduced crossings in urban areas like El Paso and San Diego, it pushed migrants into deserts and mountains, ultimately contributing to thousands of migrant deaths. Dunn explains how U.S. military training and interventions in Central America fueled violence and migration, how financial institutions and drug war policies have perpetuated instability, how political entrepreneurs use crisis narratives to expand coercive power, and how programs like Operation Lone Star model a new wave of militarized enforcement. He calls for more humane immigration reforms grounded in human rights, economic realities, and the everyday resilience of immigrant communities.

Dr. Timothy J. Dunn is a Professor of Sociology at Salisbury University in Maryland. He is the author of Blockading the Border and Human Rights: The El Paso Operation that Remade Immigration Enforcement (University of Texas Press, 2009) and The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home (University of Texas Press, 1996).

Show Notes:

• Handbook on Human Security, Borders and Migration (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021) edited by Natalia Ribas-Mateos and Timothy Dunn
• Todd Miller’s book, Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the US Border around the World
• Jason De León’s book, The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail
• Gary Becker’s article, "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach" (Journal of Political Economy, 1968)
• Mexican Migration Project
• MacArthur Fellowship Recipient: Kelly Lytle Hernández
• No More Deaths / No Más Muertes
• Coalición de Derechos Humanos
• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
• ACLU | Immigrants’ Rights

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.

Virtual Sentiments, a podcast series from the Hayek Program, is streaming. Subscribe today and listen to season three, releasing now!

Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram

Learn more about Academic & Student Programs

Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

CC Music: Twisterium