Category: 3-EconSometimeCommentary

We tend to think of tragedies as a single terrible moment, rather than the result of multiple bad decisions. Can this pattern be reversed? We try — with stories about wildfires, school shootings, and love. (Part one of a four-part series.)

The post How to Succeed at Failing, Part 1: The Chain of Events (Update) appeared first on Freakonomics.

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Virtually every product brought into the United States must have a so-called "country of origin." Think of it as the official place it comes from. And this is the country that counts for calculating tariffs.

But what does it really mean when something is a "Product of China"? How much of it actually comes from China? And how do customs officials draw the line?

Here in the U.S., the rules are delightfully counterintuitive. A product's country of origin is not necessarily where that product got on the container ship to come here. It's not necessarily where most of its ingredients are from or even where most of the manufacturing happened.

Our system is much stranger. The answers can be surprisingly philosophical — and at times, even poetic.

This episode of Planet Money was produced by James Sneed with help from Sylvie Douglis. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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A new thrill ride can cost an amusement park $20 million or more — but roller coasters attract customers like nothing else. Zachary Crockett must be at least this tall to host this episode.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Korey Kiepert, engineer and partner at The Gravity Group.
  • Dennis Spiegel, owner and founder of International Theme Park Services.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "These two amusement park giants just merged. Rollercoaster fans are nervous," by Nathaniel Meyersohn (CNN, 2024).
  • "1,000-foot-tall roller coaster may soon be a reality," by Brady MacDonald (Seattle Times, 2024).
  • "A Century of Screams: The History of the Roller Coaster," (PBS).
  • "The Business of Building Roller Coasters," by Zachary Crockett (Priceonomics, 2014).
  • Roller Coaster Census Report.
  • The Gravity Group.

 

• EXTRAS:
  • "January 1884: First U.S. Patent for a Roller Coaster," by LaMarcus Thompson (Advancing Physics, 2004).
  • American Coaster Enthusiasts.

 

Why is it so hard to find a bathroom when you need one?

In the U.S., we used to have lots of publicly accessible toilets. But many had locks on the doors and you had to put in a coin to use them. Pay toilets created a system of haves and have nots when it came to bathroom access. So in the 60s, movements sprung up to ban pay toilets.

Problem is: when the pay toilets went away, so too did many free public toilets.

Today on the show, how toilets exist in a legal and economic netherworld; they're not quite a public good, not quite a problem the free market can solve.

Why we're stuck, needing to go, with nowhere to go.

This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune and engineered by Cena Loffredo. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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Music: Audio Network - "Smoke Rings," "Can't Walk Away" and "Bright Crystals."

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It used to be that making documentary films meant taking a vow of poverty (and obscurity). The streaming revolution changed that. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler talks to Stephen Dubner about capturing Billie Eilish’s musical genius and Martha Stewart’s vulnerability — and why he really, really, really needs to make a film about the New York Mets.

The post When Did We All Start Watching Documentaries? appeared first on Freakonomics.

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On today's show: we're ... venting.

We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different curiosities and styles. But we recently realized many of us have something in common: We're annoyed consumers.

So we're going to get ranty ... but then try to understand the people annoying us. Like stingy coffee shops, manufacturers that don't design things for repair ... and stores that send way too many emails every day.

Along the way, we learn a very sad thing about satisfaction and the future of skilled labor in the U.S.

(Also, we should all just stop using umbrellas. They have negative consumption externalities. Come on people.)

This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by James Willetts. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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

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On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Margaret Levi delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference, exploring her latest research on political equality and arguing that it has been poorly conceptualized and measured in comparison to economic equality. She frames political equality around three dimensions: participation, representation, and responsiveness, emphasizing that it is relational and rooted in social interactions and is not merely a matter of resource distribution. Levi highlights new empirical tools for better assessing political equality, including surveys on empowerment, studies of social capital, and network analysis.

Margaret Levi is Professor Emerita of Political Science and Senior Fellow at the Center for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law (CDDRL) at the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) at Stanford University. Levi is currently a faculty fellow at CASBS and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, co-director of the Stanford Ethics, Society and Technology Hub, and the Jere L. Bacharach Professor Emerita of International Studies at the University of Washington.

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

A backstage conversation with Jeffrey Seller, producer of Rent, Avenue Q, and Hamilton. To get subscriber-only episodes, sign up for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

The post “Musical Theater Is a Magic Trick” appeared first on Freakonomics.

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It takes a highly skilled stenographer — and some specialized equipment — to transcribe TV dialogue in real time at 300 words per minute. Will A.I. rewrite the script? Zachary Crockett tries to keep up.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Doug Karlovits, general manager at Verbit.
  • Katie Ryan, live steno captioner at Verbit.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Long Case for Machine Shorthand," by Sam Corbin (New York Times, 2024).
  • "Caption This: Why Subtitling Is Big Business Amid the Content Boom," by Kirsten Chuba (The Hollywood Reporter, 2023).
  • "Everyone Watches TV with Subtitles Now. How’d That Happen?" by Wilson Chapman (IndieWire, 2023).
  • "When is Captioning Required?" (National Association of the Deaf).

Reporter Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi's Aunt Vovi signed up for 23andMe back in 2017, hoping to learn more about the genetic makeup of her ancestors. Vovi was one of over 15 million 23andMe customers who sent their saliva off to be analyzed by the company.

But last month, 23andMe filed for bankruptcy, and it announced it would be selling off that massive genetic database. Today on the show, what might happen to Vovi's genetic data as 23andMe works its way through the bankruptcy process, how the bankruptcy system has treated consumer data privacy in the past, and what this case reveals about the data that all of us willingly hand over to companies every single day.

This episode was produced by Sylvie Douglis and edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Harry Paul and Neal Rauch and fact-checked by Tyler Jones. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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

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

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

Music: NPR Source Audio - "Lazybones," "Twirp," and "On Your Marks"

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