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
Link: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/22/408834372/episode-626-this-is-the-end
Summary: The Planet Money team investigates the growing use of machines in all aspects of labor, and examines the potential benefits as well as threats it could pose to society.
Original Air Date: May 22, 2015
Length: 12 minutes 39 seconds
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Summary: The Planet Money team investigates the outdated qualifications for the Poverty Line in America and the need for a new formula to alleviate the suffering.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
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/03/06/286861541/does-raising-the-minimum-wage-kill-jobs
Summary: Minimum wage is a hot topic in the economic realm. In this podcast the same study is done three times resulting in different outcomes on the pros and cons of raising the minimum wage.
Original Air Date: March 6, 2014
Length: 4 minutes 32 seconds
Summary: The Planet Money team investigates the pros and cons of pay transparency in the work place and the problems it is solving.
Original Air Date: July 2, 2014
Length: 4 minutes 59 seconds
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/01/24/265396928/when-a-65-cab-ride-costs-192
Summary: This podcast sheds light on supply and demand as well as elasticity using the well know car service Uber.
Original Air Date: January 24, 2014
Length: 4 minutes 9 seconds Note there is a longer version that addresses issues of fairness, rationing by time v. money, different profit maximizing strategies by firms
Discussion Prompt (1) for short or long version: Think about yourself as a consumer of Uber/Lyft services– how elastic is your demand for uber? How do you know? What factors do you think make your demand for an Uber ride more or less elastic? You can think about specific times, or you can think about comparing yourself to other people whose elasticity of demand might be different.
Discussion Prompt (2) for short or long version: This podcast focuses on the topic of ‘surge pricing’: how does this relate to price elasticity of supply? Is the supply of Uber drivers price elastic or inelastic? What factors might impact that?
Discussion Prompt (1) for long version: Planet Money asks this question: If this is how markets generally work (ex. Stock market, copper market), why is what Uber’s doing considered so strange? This podcast is from 2014 (useful to us because it explains Uber in detail because it was new). In the time that has passed, do you think people have come around to this ‘economic way of thinking’ about surge pricing? Why, why not?
Discussion Prompt (2) for long version: The podcast compares the pricing strategy of Home Depot with ‘ice salt/melt,’ where they don’t change the price but they do run out, to the strategy of Uber where they raise the price rather than ‘run out’. Economist Richard Thaler notes that these choices represent different profit maximizing strategies by firms focusing on long-run vs. short-run strategies. What does he mean here? How do these actions represent different profit-maximizing strategies by these firms? Do you think one is ‘more fair’?
Written Prompt: Read this related article: Cohen, P., Hahn, R., Hall, J., Levitt, S., & Metcalfe, R. (2016). Using big data to estimate consumer surplus: The case of uber (No. w22627). National Bureau of Economic Research. Part of what makes this article innovative, is that it provided a ‘real-life’ consumer surplus estimate drawn from actual consumer data. Why do you think that it might have been hard to determine consumer surplus in real life before Uber (and similar apps/services)? Can you make any other links between this article and the podcast?
Link: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/wealth-poverty/how-tough-economy-changes-young-peoples-lives
Summary: Many people are still feeling the after-effects of the Great Recession, especially young adults. Young adults still have a higher than average unemployment rate, and are not hitting traditional milestones–such as living alone, starting careers, buying their first home–and have been described as a generation that has “failed to launch” due to the poor economy. Everything that is happening to this generation is happening later in life as they work to launch themselves as independent, self-supporting adults in the harsh economic environment.
Original Air Date: September 16, 2014
Length: 4 minutes 36 seconds
Summary: Planet Money presents three stories regarding the financial market; the stock market’s sluggish performance, a negative interest rates in the banking sector, and pawn shops exchanges for the rich.
Original Air Date: June 13, 2014
Length: 13 min
Summary: This podcast outlines how information technology is being used to measure efficiency in certain markets, such as the United Parcel Service (UPS). Whether you are inside a truck driving or in an office, information technology can track almost everything you do.
Original Air Date: May 2, 2014
Length: 14 min
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/01/17/263487421/episode-510-the-birth-of-the-minimum-wage
Summary: Planet Money takes us back through time to when the U.S. first set a minimum wage. Historically, the U.S. had rejected any attempts at a minimum wage law, considering them unconstitutional. But things changed after Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Original Air Date: January 17, 2014
Length: 17 min
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