Épisodes

  • Will new loan limits lower the cost of grad school?

    Will new loan limits lower the cost of grad school?
    Dec 16 2025
    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made a lot of changes to the federal student loan system. One of those changes put a new cap on the amount of loans students in graduate school can take on. Today on the show, we explain the theory behind this change and how it could impact the broader labor market going forward.

    Related episodes:
    The Market For Student Loans
    Here's why Black students are defaulting
    Student loans are back, U.S. travel is whack, and AI — please, step back

    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.

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    10 min
  • Can American cities grow AND stay affordable?

    Can American cities grow AND stay affordable?
    Dec 15 2025
    Cities like Austin and Atlanta used to top lists of places people moved to looking for relatively affordable places to live. Until, one day, they weren’t that affordable. On today’s show, how a low cost of living is threatened by growth, and how one sunbelt city in Alabama is planning ahead.

    Related episodes:
    Why Americans don’t want to move for jobs anymore
    How to build abundantly
    How big is the US housing shortage?
    The highs and lows of US rents

    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.

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    9 min
  • Nvidia chips for China, frozen Russian funds, and a lot of self-checkout stealing

    Nvidia chips for China, frozen Russian funds, and a lot of self-checkout stealing
    Dec 12 2025
    It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.

    On today’s episode: Nvidia chips OK’d for China, a sticky frozen Russian asset situation, and a lot of you seem to be stealing from self-checkout.

    Related episodes: The tower of NVIDIA How to get Russia to pay Ukraine Why the U.S. cut China off from advanced chips

    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 Corey Bridges. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 min
  • How to make $35 trillion ... disappear

    How to make $35 trillion ... disappear
    Dec 11 2025

    You may be familiar with the AI-fueled stock market boom. Well, former International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Gita Gopinath warns it could mirror the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. But worse. She calculates a similar crash could erase $35 trillion in global wealth. Today on the show, what would that mean for the US and global economies?

    Related episodes:
    This indicator hasn’t flashed this red since the dot-com bubble
    Open AI’s deals are looking a little frothyFor 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.

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    11 min
  • Bitcoin miners are betting on AI over crypto

    Bitcoin miners are betting on AI over crypto
    Dec 10 2025

    If you want to make Bitcoin, you need powerful computers and a lot of energy. Well, it turns out the same infrastructure needed for Bitcoin mining is pretty valuable in the era of AI. Today on the show, why some miners are starting to throw in the towel on crypto in favor of supporting AI infrastructure.

    Related episodes:
    Whose financing Meta’s massive AI Data Center?
    This indicator hasn’t flashed this red since the dot-com bubble
    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.

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    9 min
  • How a former Fed vice chair would approach rate cuts

    How a former Fed vice chair would approach rate cuts
    Dec 9 2025
    Federal Reserve is meeting to make its interest rate decision after the government shutdown delayed key economic data. Today on the show, we talk to the former Vice Chair of the Fed, Lael Brainard, about what she would do with interest rates in this critical yet foggy economic moment.

    Related episodes:
    A little doomsday feeling is weighing on the economy
    Can ... we still trust the monthly jobs report?

    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.

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    9 min
  • Take a penny, leave a penny, get rid of the penny

    Take a penny, leave a penny, get rid of the penny
    Dec 8 2025
    In November, the U.S. stopped production of the humble penny after 232 years in circulation. On today’s show, a former U.S. Mint director shares the fiscal math that doomed the penny, and an artist pay tribute to this American icon.

    View more of Robert Wechsler’s artwork here.

    Related episodes:
    What’s the deal with the platinum coin?

    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 Corey Bridges. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 min
  • Chips up, rent down, and are people really skimping on holiday gifts?

    Chips up, rent down, and are people really skimping on holiday gifts?
    Dec 5 2025

    It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.

    On today’s episode: A big goshDRAM memory problem, a holiday spending mystery, and apartment rental prices … decline?!

    Related episodes:
    The highs and lows of US rents
    Taking the temperature of the US consumer
    We Buy A Lot Of Christmas Trees

    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 Corey Bridges and Julia Ritchey. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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    9 min