Category: News

It's time for another intra-Family Feud! The friendly game-show competition where our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator duke it out over which indicator will be the leading economic story in 2024. Will interest rates decline? Will 'Bidenomics' catch on? Will junk fees get taken out with the garbage?

Tell us who won by submitting your vote to Planet Money's Instagram or email us with "Family Feud" in the subject line. Voting ends Dec. 31 at midnight, and we'll announce the winner(s) on our Jan. 5 episode.

Related Episodes:
The Indicator of the Year: 2023 (Apple / Spotify)
The 'physics' behind potential interest rates cuts (Apple / Spotify)
Junk fees, unfilled jobs, jackpot? (Apple / Spotify)
We grade Fed Chair Jerome Powell (Apple / Spotify)
Industrial policy, the debate! (Apple / Spotify)

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Yellowstone first aired in 2018, quickly becoming one of television's most popular shows. The show follows John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner, as he feuds with real estate developers threatening to encroach on his family ranch. Today on the show, how life imitates art in Montana, where tourism has boomed, the population has grown and housing prices have soared.

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Talk of New Year's resolutions is bubbling up as 2024 quickly approaches. Whether it's a fitness goal, wanting to learn a new skill or just trying to develop better habits, a new year is the perfect excuse to start. However, it can be difficult to maintain as time passes by.

Today on the show, we talk to a behavioral economist about one of the best ways to stick to your New Year's resolutions using the power of economics.

Mixed Signals: How Incentives Really Work by Uri Gneezy

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The movie Coyote vs. Acme was set to release this summer featuring characters from the iconic Looney Tunes cartoons. The studio behind the film, Warner Bros. Pictures, had some other ideas. Instead of releasing the completed film, the studio canceled Coyote vs. Acme, with no intention of ever releasing it.

Today on the show, we explain the Hollywood economics behind why Warner Bros. Discovery might not want to release movies that its own studio spent years putting together.

Related Episodes:
​​Why platforms like HBO Max are removing streaming TV shows (Apple Podcasts / Spotify)

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For decades, states have prosecuted and imprisoned people for selling weed. Today, recreational marijuana is legal in almost half of U.S. states, and many want to give individuals who were impacted by marijuana enforcement a chance to sell it legally. But as the roughly $30 billion cannabis industry grows, are these so-called social equity programs living up to their promise?

Today on the show, why many would-be cannabis entrepreneurs find themselves hitting a 'grass ceiling'.

Related
So you want to sell marijuana across state lines (Apple Podcasts/Spotify)

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By many measures, 2023 was a decent year for the U.S. economy, but that's not how people necessarily felt. So what economic story best defined the year? Soft landings? Hard feelings about the economy? An inhospitable housing market? Our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator battle it out over which economic story best illustrates the year.

Tell us who won by submitting your vote via Planet Money's Instagram or email us with "Family Feud" in the subject line.

Related episodes:
Taking the temperature of the US consumer (Apple / Spotify)
A treacherous descent, what will the Fed do next? (Apple / Spotify)
When mortgage rates are too low to give up (Apple / Spotify)
Which economic indicator defined 2022?

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Women lag behind men when it comes to investing. Combine this with the fact that women tend to earn less than their male peers and live longer, and it can create a waterfall of awful long-term consequences for half of America's population. Today, we speak to an author of an investing study who says he's found a solution.

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In the world of science there are laws—rules that describe how the universe works. The Federal Reserve has its own set of rules, except its rules are more like guidelines to help the Fed decide where interest rates should be. Today on the show, we explain inertial and non-inertial rules in the world of monetary policy, and what they tell us about potential rate cuts in the year ahead.

Related episodes:
The rat under the Fed's hat (Apple / Spotify)
The fed decides to wait and see (Apple / Spotify)

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How often are you shopping online and think to yourself, is that shirt/dress/jeans in my shopping cart ... even real? That is a question some shoppers are asking themselves as AI-generated products increasingly infiltrate the world of e-commerce.

Today on the show, we talk to an expert in digital forensics about how AI-generated merchandise is only likely to become more common, and what ought to be done to help prevent unethical sellers from abusing the technology.

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Since the end of November, diplomats, scientists, activists and lobbyists from nearly every country on Earth have come together for COP 28, the United Nations climate negotiating talks. One of the goals of this gathering is for countries to agree on the best path forward to address human-driven climate change. Stakes are high as average global temperatures continue to approach a key threshold of 1.5 degree Celsius (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times — the level climate scientists say we must stay under to stave off severe climate disruptions that could contribute to flooding, drought, hunger, and conflict.

As it comes to a close, Nathan Rott with NPR's climate desk helps us navigate the take-aways from the pivotal conference.

Related Episodes:
Gambling, literally, on climate change (Apple Podcasts/Spotify)

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