Archive for the ‘Planet Money’ Category
Link: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/12/976465414/the-even-more-minimum-wage
This podcast discusses the history and the impact of low wages received by restaurant workers. The federal “tipped” minimum wage has remained stagnant for almost 30 years, while the standard minimum wage has been increased 5 times throughout that time. Policy makers in Washington DC are now proposing the Raise the Wage Act, which, if enacted, would raise the federal minimum wage incrementally to $15 an hour for all workers in all industries, including tipped workers.
Original Air Date: March 17, 2021
Length: 21 minutes and 22 seconds
Link: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/720139562/episode-910-economics-sexism-data
As International Women’s Month begins, this podcast by Planet Money helps highlight some of the issues involving sexism and economics. At the time Alice Wu was an economics undergraduate at UC Berkeley and had found an online job forum but was shocked to see the attitude and banter relating to women in the field of economics. She then used her econ skills to analyze the inherent bias found on the site and put out a report on her findings, leading to many woman in the economic field sharing their stories and exposing some of the sexism they have had to face.
Discussion Prompt: What are some ways that social issues, such as sexism can be address throughout a whole field like economics?
Original Air Date: May 3, 2019
Length: 24 minutes 20 seconds
Link: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/05/920342513/rethinking-black-wealth
Dr. Andre Perry, a Brookings Institution fellow, highlights the disparities of wealth and structural racism in predominantly Black neighborhoods. He discusses his self-coined term “devalued assets” and how oppressive policy that has been enforced on Black communities has caused extensive damage throughout. An educational conversation to bring Black History Month to a close.
Original Air Date: October 7, 2020
Length: 20 minutes 59 seconds
Link:https://www.npr.org/2020/10/21/926168583/hey-google-are-you-too-big
The Department of Justice has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Google due to their alleged monopoly power over the online search and internet search ad market. The DOJ must prove in this case that Google has created this monopoly in a way that is harmful to consumers. If Google loses the case, this would allow for more competition within the market, even if the effects of this case are not seen right away.
Original Air Date: October 21, 2020
Length: 18 minutes
Link: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/13/923237556/how-vikings-launched-globalization-1-0
In the year 1000 Vikings were the first individuals from Europe to discover North America. Eventually, they discovered that indigenous individuals were already there and began exchanging goods with them. This is the first known example of a good from one area in the world was able to be traded for a good in another region. There is even evidence of some form of coin being exchanged between the two groups.
Original Air Date: October 13, 2020
Length: 9 minutes 55 seconds
Link:https://www.npr.org/2020/10/29/929127255/what-is-bidenomics
Biden has proposed an economic plan to contain the coronavirus while opening the economy again when it is safe to do so. His plan primarily focuses on affordable child care, creating more jobs in the green energy sector, and closing the racial wealth gap. This podcast discusses his plans to raise taxes on the wealthy, remove certain deductibles for these individuals, and increase taxes on corporations in order to fund some of these programs.
Original Air Date: October 29, 2020
Length: 9 minutes 42 seconds
Link:https://www.npr.org/2020/10/09/922424987/political-ad-nauseam
With the presidential election coming up, NPR looked into how much money campaigns pay for certain demographics of voters. Approximately 60% of campaign spending is typically targeted at TV ads in battleground states such as Wisconsin and Florida. Using a generic party model, campaign advertisers are able to identify which individuals have a higher probability of being a “swing voter”.
Original Air Date: October 9, 2020
Length: 22 minutes 35 seconds
Link: https://www.npr.org/2020/08/07/900273012/mask-communication
This podcast uses behavioral economics to analyze the reasons why people may refuse to wear masks. Economists believe when these individuals feel external constraints on their freedoms, they feel even less inclined to wear a mask. Behavioral economists discuss nudges/incentives that could be effective in this situation.
Original Air Date: August 7, 2020
Length: 26 minutes 26 seconds
Discussion Prompt: What are some other incentives you can think of that would influence more widespread mask wearing?
Link: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/842095406/episode-993-negative-oil
Oil prices have officially fallen well below a dollar in the United States. This is extremely telling about the current state of the economy, considering this has never happened before.
Original Air Date: April 22 2020
Length: 16 minutes 22 seconds
Discussion Prompt: What can this tell us about the state of the global economy at the time of negative oil? If you were advising policy makers, how important would you say this event was or was not? Why?
Link: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/09/794977811/episode-963-13-000-economists-1-question
At the American Economic Association annual conference, some of the brightest economists answer the question, “What is the most useful idea in economics?”. Answers range from the idea of opportunity cost to thinking at the margin.
Original Air Date: January 10 2020
Length: 21 minutes 1 second
Discussion Prompt: What do you believe is this most useful idea in economics and why?
Written Prompt: Develop your own list of your top ten (or top 5) ‘most useful ideas’ in economics. Be sure to explain WHY you’ve made your selections. You may use up to 3 of those referenced in the podcast, with your own explanations! The rest must be your idea.
