Category: Series

President Donald Trump is dead set on acquiring Greenland, and while national security is the stated reason, the country’s untapped mineral wealth could offer another explanation. 

Today on the show: is Greenland really an untapped land of riches? We talk to one Australian geologist who discovered the great costs and potential rewards of extracting these minerals himself. 

Related episodes: 
Add to cart: Greenland 
Why Trump resurrected the Monroe Doctrine 

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez and Julia Ritchey. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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Although some scholars have labeled the early Ming Dynasty as a proto-liberal state, they are mistaken. The Ming governance at that time was weak, not limited by law and ideology.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/weak-states-not-limited-states-early-ming-governance-and-illusion-proto-liberalism

In early January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening bans on defense contractors paying dividends or buying their stock back.

Today on the show, we learn about the Trump Administration’s frustrations with the weapons supply chain, find out what a defense industry investor makes of the move, and ask whether this reflects the state tightening its grip on the industry that arms the U.S. military.

Related episodes: 
Are we overpaying for military equipment?
Can Just-In-Time handle a new era of war?
How to transform a war economy for peacetime

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter. 

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The original 13 British colonies that made up the early United States had very different populations with decidedly different political and social outlooks.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/british-north-american-colonies-were-not-homogeneous-political-units

In Autumn 2025 a paper in South Korea was published that excited many a vaccine sceptic online. The paper claimed that receiving a vaccination against Covid19 was linked to a 27% increase in cancer risk.

However, when you dig into the data there is no evidence that the vaccine caused the cancer. We spoke to Professor Justin Fendos to explain why we cannot take this type of statistical analysis at face value.

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: James Beard