Link: http://www.marketplace.org/2016/03/25/world/after-years-making-occulus-rift-arrives
Summary: Oculus Rift headsets for virtual reality are now in the market! Facebook owns Oculus and will be looking to take to Oculus Rift to the mainstream market next. In this podcast, Marketplace discusses the prospects and challenges ahead for these pioneers in virtual reality economy.
Original Date Aired: March 18, 2016
Length: 1 minute 53 seconds
Link: http://www.marketplace.org/2016/03/01/world/power-superdelegates-and-campaign-contributions
Summary: Marketplace analyzes the role of superdelegates in a campaign election and considers what effect donations from candidates to superdelegates have on the United States presidential election overall.
Original Air Date: March 1, 2016
Length: 2 minutes 45 seconds
Link: http://www.marketplace.org/2016/02/11/tech/fido-and-his-fitbit-will-pet-wearables-take
Summary: Would you want to quantify your dog’s daily routine? The Marketplace team explores the young and growing market for pet activity trackers, and how that data could benefit pet owners.
Original date aired: February 18, 2016
Length: 4 minutes
Podlearning, an instructional technique where student groups create the own original podcasts while demonstrating a variety of economics proficiencies, including oral communication skills, is now published in the latest Journal of Economic Education
The Podlearning teaching technique won second prize in the “Best in Class” Contest at the National Economics Teaching Association‘s 11th annual conference. Watch the video describing the technique below and access instructor resources here.
Link: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/03/27/395815221/episode-613-trash
Summary: The Planet Money team investigates the $100 billion industry that is recycling and the downward spiral it has taken due to developments in in other markets.
Original Air Date: March 27, 2015
Length: 13 minutes and 52 seconds
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/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://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?
Summary: The Planet Money team looks at the relative benefits of providing poor families a home in low poverty neighborhoods via housing vouchers.
Original Air Date: May 4, 2015
Length: 4 minutes 17 seconds
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