Category: Series

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The Indicator from Planet Money - How China became solar royalty

When Shi Zhengrong started making solar panels at the turn of the century, there was basically no solar industry in China. But in the decades that followed, the nation started heavily investing in renewables. Today, we dig into how China became a leader in solar power while following the story of one man: the Sun King.

Related episodes:
Rooftop solar's dark side (Apple / Spotify)
The debate at the heart of new electricity transmission (Apple / Spotify)

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The Indicator from Planet Money - A food fight over free school lunch

The ascendance of Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has made the topic of free school lunch a political flashpoint. Over the past several years, several states—including Walz's home state of Minnesota—have created free school lunch programs, to the dismay of some House Republicans who believe government subsidies should go only to needy students.

Today on the show, we break down the economics of school lunch and explore whether universal programs are more effective than targeted programs.

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Cato Daily Podcast - Police and Prosecutor Misconduct Protections and A Possible Path Forward

At Cato University earlier this month, journalist Radley Balko discussed a range of ways that public sector officials, particularly police and prosecutors, are largely able to escape accountability for misconduct. He offers at least one way to evaluate certain incidents to prevent tragic outcomes for Americans going forward.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Do we eat a credit card’s worth of microplastic each week?

The claim we all swallow 5.5 grams of microplastic each week ? the same as the weight of a credit card ? has been repeated by charities, newspapers and the World Economic Forum.

But when you understand how this number was calculated, and the range of possible answers for the amount of plastic you eat, you might not want to repeat it yourself.

Professor Jamie Woodward from the University of Manchester explains what?s what.

Presenter: Kate Lamble Producer: Beth Ashmead Latham Researcher: Ajai Singh Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Sound mix: Giles Aspen Editor: Richard Vadon

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The Indicator from Planet Money - How much would you do this job for? And other indicators

Welcome to another edition of Indicators of the Week! On today's show, the large downward revision to jobs numbers, the awkward release of that news and a survey that asks U.S. workers for the minimum salary they would accept a new job for.

Related listening:
Getting more men into so-called pink collar jobs (Apple / Spotify)
Do I need a four-year degree? (Apple / Spotify)
Indicator exploder: jobs and inflation
Our 2023 Valentines

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Biden’s beef with bad customer service

Earlier this month, the White House unveiled a new initiative aimed at trying to serve and protect American consumers: Time is Money.

It's an array of actions the Biden Harris administration is taking to stomp out business processes that waste consumers time and money, like, for example, making it unnecessarily difficult to cancel a subscription, get an airline ticket refund, or file an insurance claim.

On today's episode: In a competitive market, companies want to treat their customers well or else they'll lose their customers to competitors ... so why does the White House want to intervene in this area of the free market?

Related Episode:
Junk fees, unfilled jobs, jackpot

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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