Link: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/10/28/452655987/episode-518-your-organs-please
Summary: The Planet Money team investigates organ donation and how it has become more popular over time.
Original Air Date: October 30, 2015
Length: 19 minutes 48 seconds
Link: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/07/24/426017148/episode-641-why-we-work-so-much
Summary: John Maynard Keynes believed that in the future people would work less, he was wrong. The Planet Money team explain the reasons why this has yet to change.
Original Air Date: July 24, 2015
Length: 13 mins 11 sec
Summary: The Justice Department is planning to investigate 4 major airlines for price collusion. Investigators will question whether the airlines restricted supply to maintain higher ticket prices.
Original Air Date: July 2, 2015
Length: 3 minutes 35 seconds
Link: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/09/25/443519599/episode-653-the-anti-store
Summary: In this podcast the planet money team dissects the bulk grocery industry of places such as Price Club, Costco, and Jet to see how much the consumer is really saving and how the businesses make a profit from that.
Original Air date: September 23, 2015
Length: 15 minutes and 9 seconds
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/03/353300404/episode-573-why-textbook-prices-keep-climbing
Summary: Something strange is going on in the textbook market. The price has steeply increased over the past decade–and they’re only getting higher. There is a disconnect between the chooser (the professors) and the buyers (the students). Technically, the professor is the consumer, and they’re spending their students’ money. The podcast offers the opposite: high school textbooks, where costs are kept low because the books are paid for by the schools.
Original Air Date: October 3, 2014
Length: 14 minutes 56 seconds
Discussion Question/ Prompt: Propose a solution to the rising textbook price problem. (Example: a price ceiling? professor awareness of prices? incentives for lower prices?)
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/17/356944145/episode-576-when-women-stopped-coding
Summary: How did women go from being the pioneers of the coding industry to… the sidelines? The answer directly relates to the number of women studying computer science, and what happened in 1984 to change everything. A factor, as it turns out, is the marketing ploys aimed at women.
Original Air Date: October 17, 2014
Length: 17 minutes 12 seconds
Summary: The Nigerian Internet hosts many ads for stolen oil, inspiring the question: how? Why? Nigeria has one of the top oil reserves, and it is controlled by the government. They lose about $10 million a day from oil theft. This podcast dissects how they get away with it.
Original Air Date: October 29, 2014
Length: 19 minutes 30 seconds
Discussion Question: The podcasts says that this problem is for the Nigerian government to solve. Should it be an international issue?
Prompt: The podcast does not reflect on the legally sold oil, and the effect the stolen oil has on that market. Write how you think the stolen oil would change the market for legal crude oil in the international arena, paying specific attention to the quantity and the prices.
Link: http://freakonomics.com/2014/09/18/outsiders-by-design-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-2/
Summary: This podcast was inspired by the death of Gary Becker, an economist who’s work was inspired by the idea of discrimination. His approach was called ‘rational choice’–that people will make rational decisions to maximize their own utility and wealth. In the end, a lot of people strongly disagreed with his research. The program then goes on to illustrate two more examples of medical researchers who were outcast by their fields of study. By the end, however, Gary Becker won a Nobel Prize.
Original Air Date: September 18, 2014
Length: 41 minutes 40 seconds
Prompt / Discussion: Sometimes people will not agree with your research conclusions or ideas, such is the case with Gary Becker. Why do you think Becker’s ideas were/are so controversial?
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/09/20/224511346/episode-487-the-trouble-with-the-poverty-line
Summary: The Planet Money team investigates the outdated qualifications for the Poverty Line in America and the need for a new formula to alleviate the suffering. This podcast includes a brief history of the Poverty Line.
Original Air Date: September 20, 2013
Length: 11 minutes 47 seconds
Summary: Kenneth Feinberg discusses the reality of compensating families of victims of horrific tragedies. He advises we all plan for tomorrow.
Original Air Date: March 27, 2015
Length: 3 minutes 35 seconds
audioecon 