podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
and
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
produced by NPR. Using "creative and entertaining" dialogue and narrative, ''Planet Money'' claims to be "The Economy Explained."
This American Life
''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...
''. ''Planet Money'' was launched on September 6, 2008, to cover the
financial crisis of 2007–08
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline o ...
in the wake of the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
In early 2020, ''Planet Money'' celebrated its 1000th episode, bringing back many former hosts and contributors to mark the occasion.
, episodes are hosted by
Robert Smith Robert Smith or Bob Smith, or similar, may refer to:
Business
* Robert MacKay Smith (1802–1888), Scottish businessman, meteorologist and philanthropist who founded Glasgow University's Mackay Smith Prizes
* Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915), ...
, Stacey Vanek Smith, Kenny Malone, Jacob Goldstein, Amanda Aronczyk, Mary Childs, Sarah Gonzalez, Karen Duffin, Cardiff Garcia, and Greg Rosalsky.
Program
The length of the podcasts ranges between 6–30 minutes. ''Planet Money'' uses abridged narratives to tackle popular, complex topics like
American health care
The United States far outspends any other nation on health care, measured both in ''per capita'' spending and as a percentage of GDP. Despite this, the country has significantly worse healthcare outcomes when compared to peer nations. The Uni ...
or
insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...
. The format aims to make economic journalism approachable to audiences interested in learning more about popular economic issues, but who do not have an academic background in economics. The episodes are typically stand-alone. The interviewees or guests range from academic experts and business professionals to general members of the North American public. Providing listeners with primary source material, the podcast's hosts contribute contextual framing and commentary. Intimate stories are used as a leading thread and use commonplace language with entertaining plots to describe abstract or complex economic and political issues. This method translates political or economic topics, once historically dependent on academic language and higher education, to stories that engage the general public. This technique engages larger and/or younger audiences, while other audiences are attracted by their coverage of popular topics within North American culture.
''Planet Money'' also provides regular reports for '' Morning Edition'' and ''
All Things Considered
''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
'' and occasional episodes for ''This American Life''. ''Planet Money'' was the first to report the small print in the
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, often called the "bank bailout of 2008", was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, passed by the 110th United States Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It became l ...
that allowed deviation from the original Paulson plan. Senator
Max Baucus
Maxwell Sieben Baucus ( Enke; born December 11, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the longe ...
praised the show's attempts to explain the financial crisis "in terms the average American starts to understand". ''Planet Money'' episodes have been incorporated into
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...
In 2017, ''The Indicator,'' hosted by ''Planet Money'''s Stacey Vanek Smith and the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...
Cardiff Garcia'','' was launched as ''Planet Money'''s first spin-off podcast. With a similar storytelling approach, it delivers faster, shorter, more frequent podcasts. The podcast, which publishes every weekday, breaks down big ideas using ''Planet Money'''s style of witty entertainment-journalism. Each episode is approximately 10 minutes or less.
On February 28, 2018, the first episode of ''Planet Money Shorts'' was released. ''Planet Money Shorts'' is a monthly video series created by Bronson Arcuri and Ben Naddaff-Hafrey and published by NPR. It can be streamed from their webpage or watched on their
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
channel.
In 2020, ''Planet Money'' began posting videos on TikTok and also joined the platform's #LearnOnTikTok initiative which paid creators and publishers to post education content on the platform. In 2021, the account was nominated for a Webby Award in the "Education & Discovery, Social Video (Social)" category.
''Planet Money'' has launched unique projects such as buying 100 barrels of crude oil and following it from ground to gas tank, launching a satellite, and building an algorithmic trading Twitter bot. Inspired by the book ''The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy'' by
Pietra Rivoli
Pietra Rivoli is a professor of Finance and International Business
International business refers to the trade of goods, services, technology, capital and/or knowledge across national borders and at a global or transnational scale.
It involves ...
, the ''Planet Money'' team made a t-shirt and followed the shirt in a step-by-step journey from resource production to manufacturing. The design for the shirt was a squirrel holding a martini glass, which was meant to reference the economist
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
' phrase for the human elements in economics, the “animal spirits.” More than 25,000 of the shirts were sold online. The t-shirts were sold as part of a
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...
campaign became an unexpected runaway hit, raising more than 10 times their original goal of $50,000. Executive Producer Alex Blumberg worked with
Pietra Rivoli
Pietra Rivoli is a professor of Finance and International Business
International business refers to the trade of goods, services, technology, capital and/or knowledge across national borders and at a global or transnational scale.
It involves ...
as Project Advisor, and Kainaz Amaria, Brian Boyer, and Joshua Davis were Managing Producers.
The ''Planet Money'' team also attempted to buy the rights to a lesser known
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...
character, Doorman, for $10,000. After meeting with Gene Luen Yang to talk about his reboot of public domain character,
The Green Turtle
The Green Turtle is a superhero originally published by Rural Home Publications. He first appeared in '' Blazing Comics'' (1944), and was created by Chinese-American cartoonist Chu F. Hing. While the original run of the character lasted only five ...
, the team decided to use a character that had fallen into the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
, called Micro-Face. A 24 page Issue #1 comic is being written by Alex Segura, with interior art by
Jamal Igle
Jamal Yaseem Igle . jamaligle.com. Retrieved November 28, 2012. is an American
Jerry Ordway
Jeremiah Ordway (born November 28, 1957) is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books.
He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining ''Crisis on Infinite Earths ...
Robert Smith Robert Smith or Bob Smith, or similar, may refer to:
Business
* Robert MacKay Smith (1802–1888), Scottish businessman, meteorologist and philanthropist who founded Glasgow University's Mackay Smith Prizes
* Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915), ...