Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/01/04/168627298/3-d-printing-is-kind-of-a-big-deal
Summary: Is the future of manufacturing here? What is 3-D printing and how will it be applied in the future. This podcast gives a quick overview on the potential market and technological capacities of 3-D printing.
Original Air Date: January 4, 2013
Length: 5 min
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/12/13/167055503/why-legos-are-so-expensive-and-so-popular
Summary: Why are Legos so popular? How has this toy-construction behemoth survived and out-strategized competitors even after their 1989 patent expiration?
Original Air Date: December 13, 2012
Length: 5 min
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Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/09/30/227468495/one-key-thing-no-one-knows-about-obamacare
Summary: No one really knows who will sign up for the Affordable Health Care Plan (Obamacare) once it gets introduced. One potential risk of the program is that it will enter the insurance “death spiral,” or the inability for the program to attract healthy people. This could cause insurance premiums to skyrocket causing the whole system to fall apart.
Original Air Date: September 30, 2013
Length: 3 min
Summary: What would happen if the U.S. defaults? According to experts in the field, a U.S. default would lead to the inability for the government to pay back their loans which in turn could have damaging effects to the social security program, pension accounts and foreign direct investment in treasury bonds. Also considers the impact on China, as a U.S. bondholder.
Original Air Date: October 10, 2013
Length: 4 min
Summary: What makes us choose the places we decide to settle down and start a family? Does electronic banking effect the way we spend money or in other words how we do “mental accounting?” Freakonomics Radio sheds a bit of light in the different ways people decide where to live and the generational shift between hard cash and credit.
Original Air Date: October 3, 2013
Length: 26 min
Summary: Contrary to conventional wisdom about e-book publishing and its negative impact on book sales, it turns out that flexible pricing on e-books actually bring in new readers.
Original Air Date: December 27, 2012
Length: 4 min
Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/06/04/154287476/honest-truth-about-why-we-lie-cheat-and-steal
Summary: Planet Money interviews Dan Ariely, professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, about his book The Honest Truth About Dishonesty. Ariely notes that most individuals do not conduct their daily affairs on strict cost-benefit analysis but rather tend to cheat, lie, and steal as long as they don’t cross a certain moral threshold.
Original Air Date: June 4, 2012
Length: 8 min
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/06/21/194326482/episode-467-tires-taxes-and-the-grizz
Summary: The prices of tires have been rising over the past five years primarily due to a rise in the price of inputs such as rubber. A tariff imposed by the U.S. government on Chinese tire imports has also contributed to the increase of tire prices. Planet Money outlines the negative impacts on U.S. tire companies resulting from the tariff.
Original Air Date: June 21, 2013
Length: 14 min
Summary: A discussion of the economic and business factors within the U.S. that complicate the question of whether the U.S. should be sending aid in the form of weapons to Egypt during its ongoing political crisis.
Length: 13:08 min
Original air date: August 23, 2013
Summary: As the health insurance market prepares for the changes brought about by implementation of Affordable Care Act, this podcast considers how insurance companies might begin to target their new consumers. Considers marketing and branding strategies as well as how insurers might think about using incentive schemes to retain customers.
Length: 4:04 min
Original air date: July 12, 2013
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