Category: 3-EconSometimeCommentary

On this episode, Nathan Goodman is joined by Michael Clemens to discuss why immigration policy matters not just for migrants themselves but for broader economic growth. Drawing on his influential work, including “Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk?” (JEP, 2011) and “The Place Premium: Bounding the Price Equivalent of Migration Barriers” (REStat, 2019), Clemens explains how even modest liberalization of migration can create enormous gains, why exchange is positive-sum, and how complementary skills across the workforce drive production. Together they assess the claim that immigration undermines culture and institutions and revisit historical panics ranging from the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Dillingham Commission.

Dr. Michael Clemens is a professor in the Department of Economics at George Mason University and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He helped build the research program on international migration at the Center for Global Development.

Show Notes:

• Samuel Bazzi, et al., “The Confederate Diaspora” (NBER, 2025)
• Timur Kuran’s book, Freedoms Delayed: Political Legacies of Islamic Law in the Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
• Chloe N. East, et al., “The Labor Market Effects of Immigration Enforcement” (Journal of Labor Economics, 2023)
• Mexican Migration project

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(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2016.)

It’s no secret that CEOs get paid a ton – and a ton more than the average worker. More than a hundred times than what their average employee makes. 

But it wasn’t always this way. So, how did this gap get so vast? And why? 

On today’s episode … we go back to a specific moment when the way CEOs were paid got changed. It involves Bill Clinton's campaign promises, and Silicon Valley workers taking to the streets to protest an accounting rule. And of course, Dodd Frank. 

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This episode was hosted by Jacob Goldstein and Stacey Vanek Smith, and was originally produced by Nick Fountain. This update was reported and produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Alex Goldmark.

Music: "Love To Go" and "Second Line Stomp."


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Pure maple syrup can be five times as expensive as “pancake syrup,” but maple farmers — and breakfast connoisseurs — say it’s worth it. Zachary Crockett pours it on thick.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Emma Marvin, co-C.E.O. of Butternut Mountain Farm.
  • David Marvin, founder of Butternut Mountain Farm.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "Crop Production," by National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA, 2025).
  • "Why Americans Overwhelmingly Prefer Fake Maple Syrup," by Christopher Ingraham (The Washington Post, 2015).
  • "History of Maple," (UVM Libraries).
  • Butternut Mountain Farm.

Last month, President Donald Trump announced an unusual deal. Intel, the biggest microchip maker in America, had agreed to give the United States a 10 percent stake in its business. That means the U.S. government is now Intel's largest shareholder — and a major American company is now a partially state-owned enterprise. 

This deal has raised a lot of eyebrows. The U.S. government almost never gets tangled up with businesses like this. Some have accused the president of taking a step toward, well, socialism.

But the Intel deal didn’t come out of nowhere. It's actually the latest chapter in one of the most aggressive economic experiments the United States has ever attempted. An experiment that Trump is now taking in a surprising new direction. 

On today's show, we unpack the Intel deal. Where did it come from, and what does it say about President Trump’s unconventional approach to managing the economy. 

For more:
- The President's Golden Share in U.S. Steel 
- Bringing a tariff to a graphite fight 
- A controversial idea at the heart of Bidenomics

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This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo and Keith Romer. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Jimmy Keeley with help from Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.  

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What does it take to “play 3D chess at 250 miles an hour”? And how far will $12.5 billion of “Big, Beautiful” funding go toward modernizing the F.A.A.? (Part two of a two-part series.)

The post An Air Traffic Controller Walks Into a Radio Studio … appeared first on Freakonomics.

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There’s one question we seem to be hearing everywhere: “Is my job safe from AI?”

Dozens of you, our listeners, have written to us about this. Saying things like, “Maybe my yoga teacher side gig is actually my safest bet now,” and “My parents were in real estate, and I never thought I’d say it ... but maybe that’s what I should do?”  

If only there were a list that could tell you which jobs are safe from AI. We go looking for that list…and find that the AI future is going to be even weirder than we’d imagined.

Today on the show: We talk to two researchers who have come up with some first drafts of the future. We learned more about the machines that might be coming for our jobs, and also, more about what it actually means to be human.

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Today’s episode was produced by Eric Mennel and edited by Marianne McCune. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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Why did it take so long to invent a longer-lasting bulb? Zachary Crockett finds the answer illuminating.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Heather Dillon, mechanical engineering professor at the University of Washington in Tacoma.
  • Jane Brox, author of the 2010 book Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light.
  • Markus Krajewski, philosopher and historian of technology at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "Thomas Edison, tinkerer," by Eric Gilliam (Works in Progress, 2023).
  • "It's Official: Stores Can No Longer Sell Most Incandescent Lights," by Hiroko Tabuchi (New York Times, 2023).
  • "The Mystery of the Centennial Bulb: an Incandescent Light Bulb," by Martin Kykta (MAK Electro-Optics, 2021).
  • "The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy," by Markus Krajewski (IEEE Spectrum, 2014).
  • "Compact Fluorescent Lighting in America: Lessons Learned on the Way to Market," by L.J. Sandahl, T.L. Gilbride, M.R. Ledbetter, H.E. Steward, and C. Calwell (U.S. Department of Energy, 2006).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Do Candles Still Exist?" by Freakonomics Radio (2025).
  • "The Story of Byron the Bulb," by Thomas Pynchon (Gravity's Rainbow, 1973).

President Donald Trump has been pressuring the Federal Reserve from a few angles. So we wanted to look at other examples of political pressure on central banks, to see what it might mean for us and for the economy. 

Enter the watchers. The people who’ve had their eyes trained on central banks all over the world, for years, notebooks out, scribbling down their observations. They’ve been trying to gauge just how independent of political pressure central banks actually are – and what happens when a central bank loses that independence. 

Today on the show, we sidle up next to three of the leading central bank watchers, to watch what they’re watching.

Further reading:
- Carolina Garriga’s: Central bank independence and inflation volatility in developing countries
- Lev Menand’s: A New Measure of Central Bank Independence
- Carola Binder’s: Political Pressure on Central Banks

Further listening:
- Lisa Cook and the fight for the Fed
- A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence
- The case for Fed independence in the Nixon tapes
- A Locked Door, A Secret Meeting And The Birth Of The Fed

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This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Marianne McCune and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Robert Rodriguez and Maggie Luthar. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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Flying in the U.S. is still exceptionally safe, but the system relies on outdated tech and is under tremendous strain. Six experts tell us how it got this way and how it can (maybe) be fixed. (Part one of a two-part series.)

The post Is the Air Traffic Control System Broken? appeared first on Freakonomics.

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How do courts interpret those little icons on your phone? Zachary Crockett brings down the hammer.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Eric Goldman, professor of law, associate dean for research, co-director at the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "Canadian Court Rules 👍 Emoji Counts as a Contract Agreement," by Michael Levenson (New York Times, 2023).
  • "Former Bed Bath & Beyond investor Ryan Cohen must face emoji-inspired shareholder suit," by Rob Wile (NBC News, 2023).
  • "My Declaration Identifying Emoji Co. GmbH as a Possible Trademark Troll," by Eric Goldman (Technology & Marketing Blog, 2021).
  • "Bardales v. Lamothe," by Middle District of Tennessee (2019).
  • "Emojis and the Law," by Eric Goldman (Washington Law Review, 2018).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • OpenMoji FAQ.