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://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/why-ibm-paying-15-billion-lose-business
Summary: IBM has fell 7 percent off its stock price this week. IBM is selling its chip making company to GlobalFoundries for $1.5 billion over the next three years. It would sound unconventional, except when looking to the future. IBM will be receiving chips for the next ten years from GlobalFoundries. Deals like this are exceedingly rare, but IBM has realized truth: it would be more costly to shut down than to sell, and they may be saving money in the end.
Original Air Date: October 20, 2014
Length: 2 minutes 22 seconds
Prompt / Discussion: Discuss how this type of deal differs from collusion.
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: Return on Investment (ROI) analyzes at the most efficient way to spend money. An example given is the difference between curing malaria and HIV/AIDS. To cure malaria, it would cost about $1,000 per person, while it would cost ten times that to cure HIV/AIDS, and it is decided that they would rather save 10 people from malaria before they save one from HIV/AIDS. The United Nations, with their Millennium Development Goals coming to a close, will be looking to set new goals in 2015, to be completed by 2030. One of the issued they will focus on is how they are setting goals, and how to be more efficient with the help of the Return on Investment analysis.
Original Air Date: October 2, 2014
Length: 43 minutes 34 seconds
Prompt / Discussion: You are a member of the United Nations, and are put in charge of coming up with new development goals for 2015. You have $100 billion to invest in various development aid. Discuss how you would prioritize between an important, expensive goal (such as getting all kids into school, which was one of the Millennium Development Goals), and something that might not be seen as highly important, but cost effective.
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: 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
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
Summary: In this podcast, Brancaccio describes a term called “hyperbolic discounting” in which people look for instant gratification that in turn clouds their financial decisions.
Original Air Date: March 25, 2015
Length: 3 minutes and 58 seconds
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/08/14/340356790/should-we-kill-the-100-bill
Summary: The Planet Money team investigates the $100 bill and found that over two-thirds of the bills are overseas. Additionally, they assume the bills are used for illegal activities due to their convenience.
Original Air Date: August 14, 2014
Length: 6 minutes 10 seconds
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