Today's jobs report shows a slight rise in unemployment to 4%. And some frustrated job seekers are growing tired of applying for job after job with no replies, sometimes asking whether the listings are even real. And this isn't just vexing for applicants. It's also haunting economists when trying to figure out how much slack there is in the labor market, and whether interest rates should be raised or lowered. Today on the show: the rise of ghost jobs. Where they're happening and why.
David Boaz, longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, has passed away at the age of 70. His contributions to the advance of libertarian ideas in the public sphere are hard to overestimate. These are his remarks at the Students for Liberty LibertyCon in February.
99.5 percent of megaprojects are either over time, over budget or have lower benefits than expected. What's going wrong? Today, we look at case studies from California's high speed rail project to the Sydney Opera House to consider the do's and don'ts of ambitious projects.
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Following his related testimony on Capitol Hill, Cato's Adam Michel details why Congress should move toward ending a wide variety of penalties aimed squarely at Americans who save.
It's difficult to find records of Underground Railroad activity in Chicago because the work was inherently dangerous. But some historical documents offer a glimpse.
The United States has been a supporter of Israel since the nation's establishment in 1948. With the civilian death toll rising in the Israel-Hamas war, growing scrutiny is mounting over just how much the U.S. should support Israel's military. Today, a historical explanation for why the United States tied itself so closely to support for Israel.
Related episodes: Protesters want schools to divest from Israel. How would that work? (Apple / Spotify)
ICYMI, preorder our new Indicator t-shirt at the NPR shop. For more ways to support our show, sign up for Planet Money+ where you'll get sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, and access to even more Indicator merch!
Slowing or freezing technological advancement could be devastating for the many benefits that artificial intelligence can bring to a wide variety of problems we face. Jack Solowey and Jennifer Huddleston explain what's at stake.
Were there any suspicious claims in the election debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer?
Do the claims in Reform UK?s policy documents on excess deaths and climate change make sense?
Can the Conservatives and Labour raise ?6bn a year by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion?
And do all the humans on earth weigh more than all of the ants?
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporters: Kate Lamble and Nathan Gower
Producer: Beth Ashmead-Latham
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon
Maybe you've heard these things on social media, in the news, and take them as fact: More than half of the adults in the US live paycheck to paycheck, the trade deficit is always bad, and making the super wealthy pay their fair share will fix everything. Well, the truth isn't so simple. Today on the show: economic mythbusting. We take three factoids about the American economy and run them through the fact checkers. Related episodes: Is the federal debt REALLY that bad? (Apple/Spotify) Is the financial media making us miserable about the economy? (Apple/Spotify) ICYMI, preorder our new Indicator t-shirt at the NPR shop. For more ways to support our show, sign up for Planet Money+ where you'll get sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, and access to even more Indicator merch! For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Presidents of both parties have been handed – decade over decade – a growing list of powers to be only unlocked in the event of an emergency, but those powers rarely get reviewed on a consistent basis. What's a better path for handing over and taking back emergency power? Satya Thallam of Americans for Responsible Innovation comments.