General Electric has been staggering along for years as a conglomerate. But recently, it's turned to a popular strategy to unlock new value: spinning off. Just last week, GE spun off its clean energy business into a new company: GE Vernova. On today's show, we explore what a spin off is and why companies do them.
There are several ways the Securities and Exchange Commission could be reformed to make the agency more welcoming to regulatory comments, align its actions with statutory authority, and follow proper administrative procedures. Jennifer Schulp explains.
Amid the shifting ideological commitments among the voting public, how welcoming will voters be toward more liberty-friendly ideas? Stephanie Slade of Reason comments.
Is loneliness as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes per day? That?s the claim circulating on social media.
We trace this stat back to its source and speak the scientist behind the original research on which it is based, Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad.
Presenter / series producer: Tom Colls
Reporter: Perisha Kudhail
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon
The U.S. labor market continues its hot streak, adding 303,000 jobs last month — more than expected. Many of these jobs will require a four-year degree despite a push among some employers to eliminate these requirements. On today's show, we look at the state of the job market for people without a four-year college degree.
Separating credible election reforms from those born of conspiracy theories is a valuable task, especially when some current proposed reforms threaten to make elections slower, less efficient, and less secure. Walter Olson provides details.
"Shadow fleet" refers to the collective of ships used by countries that have sanctions against them, like Russia, to transport commodities around the world. These ships pose threats to global and environmental security because they skirt international maritime law. So what can be done about them?
Today on the show, we explain what exactly makes the shadow fleet so dangerous and why there are surprisingly limited options for how to deal with these problem ships.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
A listener thought she’d noticed a change in Chicago’s crow population. And she was right. More than twenty years ago, the crow population of Illinois was at an all-time high. But just a few years later, half of the birds were dead. The crows were hit by a deadly virus. And it’s one that humans are susceptible to as well. So where was this virus coming from? Reporter Claire Caulfield finds the answer.
Since 2020, grocery prices have shot up. If you're looking to save a buck, it's often more affordable to shop for groceries at a big retailer like Walmart. But some smaller grocers say those low prices are the result of an unfair playing field—and they're looking to a little-used antitrust law from the 1930s as a solution. Today, we consider the Robinson-Patman Act and whether reviving it could bring consumers some relief.
Related episodes: Grocery delivery wars (Apple / Spotify) Feeling inflation in the grocery store (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
