Category: News

It is Friday. And Indicators of the Week is back — Plastics Edition. Today, we dig into how fraudsters have used Walmart gift cards to scam consumers out of more than $1 billion. We also find out why recycled plastic is actually more expensive now than newly produced plastic. And we learn how overdraft fees might be going way down.

Related Articles
ProPublica - How Walmart's Financial Services Became a Fraud Magnet

Financial Times - Petrochemical glut makes new plastic cheaper than recycled

Related episodes
Overdraft fees: From perk to penalty

The problem with banning plastic bags

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Election season is upon us, and so is the barrage of election polls. What differentiates a good poll from a bad one? How can we be smarter poll consumers? Today on the show, a couple of polling experts give us their top tips.

Related episodes:
Planet Money tries election polling

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The number one producer of electric vehicles in the world is ... BYD? On today's show, we look at how the Chinese EV manufacturer rose from a battery company to global dominance. It took a mix of obsessive attention to detail, scale, government support and ... guitar-string-related quirks. Plus, we consider whether BYD can crack the U.S. market.

Related Episodes:
How electric vehicles got their juice (Apple / Spotify)

How the South is trying to win the EV race (Apple / Spotify)

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The conflict between Israel and Hamas has been going on for more than three months, and is now beginning to spill into other parts of the Middle East. That includes attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, rocket attacks by Hezbollah and U.S. airstrikes in Yemen. On today's show, we'll consider what escalation could mean for global trade and the region's most important export: oil.

Related episodes:
Red Sea tensions spell trouble for global supply chains (Apple / Spotify)
Oil prices and the Israel-Hamas war (Apple / Spotify)
What could convince Egypt to take in Gaza's refugees (Apple / Spotify)

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It's Indicators of the Week, that time each Friday when we look at three of the most fascinating numbers from the news. Today we explain why Hertz is trying to sell off part of its EV inventory, why office vacancy rates are still climbing and what Apple's class-action payout yielded one of our hosts.

Related Episodes:
What could break next? (Apple / Spotify)
How the South is trying to win the EV race (Apple / Spotify)

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A number of lawsuits against Texas-based company RealPage are putting increased attention on how algorithms can interact with the rental market. In the lawsuit, RealPage is accused of facilitating a cartel between major property managers that results in higher prices for renters and increased profits for landlords who use RealPage's software. RealPage, however, denies any wrongdoing.

Today on the show, we dive into the details of the lawsuit and explain why this case challenges typical notions of cartel behavior.

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In 2015, Guyana changed forever when ExxonMobil discovered major oil deposits off its coast. The impoverished South American country known for its thick rainforest was suddenly on course to sudden wealth.

But while a mining boom may seem like only a good thing, it can often be bad for countries long-term. Today on the show, how Guyana can still avoid the so-called resource curse.

Related episodes:
Norway has advice for Libya

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More doctors' offices are ditching clunky clipboards and embracing digital records and online check-ins. But some patients may be unaware that their sensitive health data could be accessible to more than just their health care provider. Today on the show, how ad targeting has moved into the doctor's office, why that's rubbing some patients the wrong way, and why health companies say it can lead to better care.

Related Episodes:
The hidden market for your location data (Apple)
This is your brain on drug ads
This ad's for you

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One of the most puzzling developments for economists in recent months is the disconnect between positive traditional economic data and how people say they feel negatively about the economy. Add to that, people's behavior tracks with what economists would normally expect for happy times. So what's going on?

Today on the show, we turn to something economists have tracked for decades called the misery index. Right now, it says America shouldn't be so miserable, but as we've covered before, surveys say otherwise. We identify five reasons that explain the disconnect.

Related Episodes:

Americans don't like higher prices but they LOVE buying new things (Apple Podcasts / Spotify)

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The U.S. economy added a solid number of jobs, the unemployment rate held steady, and a lot of people got raises. But, today we ask whether fewer temporary workers could mean recession, and whether higher wages might cause interest rates to stay high.

Related episodes:
The Indicator of the Year (Apple / Spotify)
Predicting next year's economic storylines (Apple / Spotify)
The money illusion

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