The Indicator from Planet Money - Mortgage applications, China’s housing and … Carrie Bradshaw?

It's ... Indicators of the Week! We cover the numbers in the news that you should know about. This week, we cover mortgage applications increasing, China's home prices decreasing, and Carrie Bradshaw ... Indices-ing?

Related Episodes:
When mortgage rates are too low to give up
Are both rents AND interest rates too dang high?
The highs and lows of US rents
The mess at the heart of China's economy

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Why big banks aren’t interested in your savings account

Some bank customers are jumping to high-yield savings accounts to escape the shockingly low interest rates of personal savings accounts at big banks. So why aren't these banks raising their rates to attract more customers? Today on the show, we explore why big banks may not care about your savings account anymore.

Related episodes:
The dangers of money market funds (Apple / Spotify)
Interest rates up, but not on your savings account (Apple / Spotify)
Bad Form, Wells Fargo

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Should presidents have more of a say in interest rates?

Former President Donald Trump recently suggested that if elected in this year's presidential election he would want more say on decisions made by the Federal Reserve. Presidents taking a more active role in monetary policy would mark an extraordinary shift in U.S. economic institutions, and mark the end of central bank independence.

Today on the show, why the Federal Reserve insulates itself from day-to-day politics, and what it looks like when central banks are influenced by politicians.

Related Episodes:
Happy Fed Independence Day (Update)
Arthur Burns: shorthand for Fed failure?
How the Fed got so powerful

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The Indicator from Planet Money - The Denver basic income experiment

Homelessness is a pervasive issue that cities across the country struggle to address. This led an entrepreneur to team up with researchers and local foundations for an experiment called the Denver Basic Income Project. The goal was to see how different variations of a basic income program would impact the local homeless population. What the researchers found could become a guide for how localities in the United States could address the problem of homelessness.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Beach reads with a side of economics

It's that time of year when we want to lie on a beach and lose ourselves in a good book. Today on the show, three summer reading recs that got our hosts thinking about economics. Remember, anything read on the beach is, in fact, a "beach read."

Books recommended in this episode:
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (B&N, Bookshop)
Everything Is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World by Tom Chivers (B&N, Bookshop)
Range: Why Generalist Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein (B&N, Bookshop)

Related episodes:
How Asimov's 'Foundation' has inspired economists (Apple / Spotify)
The carbon coin: A novel idea
Beach reads for econ nerds

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