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Two freight-rail giants could make history if their $85 billion merger gets approved. Union Pacific’s proposed marriage with Norfolk Southern would create the first coast-to-coast rail network. So why hasn’t it happened before now? Today on the show, the business of train mergers.
Related episodes:
How Yellow wound up in the red
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There’s been an era-defining race underway between two types of batteries used in electric vehicles: lithium batteries that use cobalt, and ones that use iron phosphate. Cobalt, a metal with a checkered human rights record, has been in the lead. Until recently.
Henry Sanderson’s book on the elements that build electric vehicles is Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green.
Related episodes:
The race to produce lithium
How batteries are already changing the grid
How batteries are riding the free market rodeo in Texas
How EV batteries tore apart Michigan (Update)
Batteries are catching fire at sea
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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Social media has birthed an entire lexicon replicated by millions online — even if these words don’t actually mean skibidi. On today’s show, we talk to author Adam Aleksic about how TikTok and Instagram's engagement metrics, and viral memes, are rewiring our brains and transforming language at warp speed.
Adam Aleksic’s book is Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language
Related episodes:
What we’re reading on the beach this summer
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Innovation is crucial for long-term economic prosperity. One area where that’s happening aplenty: medical technology. From a cancer vaccine to an Alzheimer’s blood test to a life-changing exoskeleton, we take you on a tour of the economics of health technology.
Related episodes:
The hidden costs of healthcare churn (Apple / Spotify)
More for Palantir, less for mRNA, and a disaster database redemption arc (Apple / Spotify)
It's actually really hard to make a robot, guys (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Voice-over by Greg Hardes. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our rapid run through the numbers you need to know.
On today’s episode: John Legend croons; CPI inflation soothes; Same job as mom? You’ll earn more, dude; Apple vs. Apple, a courtroom feud.
Related episodes:
Why every A-lister also has a side hustle
The DOJ's case against Apple
The Intergenerational Transmission of Employers and the Earnings of Young Workers
Generational Wealth: How High Earners Help Their Children’s Careers
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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Seemingly every celebrity has their own brand these days, whether it’s booze (Cameron Diaz, Matthew McConaughey) or cosmetics (Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga) or squeezy food pouches (Jennifer Garner). Today on the show, what is fueling the celebrity business bonanza? We hear from two legendary singers, Lisa Loeb AND John Legend, who are pursuing ventures outside of show business.
Related episodes:
The celebrity crypto nexus
The Olympian to influencer pipeline (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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Trump’s tax and spending law makes the largest cut in history to one of the nation’s biggest safety net programs. Today on the show, we explore how cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, impacts families and grocery stores alike.
Based on the digital story: Independent grocery stores have had a tough five years. SNAP cuts will make it harder
Related episodes:
Do work requirements help SNAP people out of government aid?
When SNAP Gets Squeezed
The trouble with water discounts
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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Insulin needles. Sleeping bags. Nutella. These are items Arwa Damon’s charity — International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance — has tried to send to Gaza and Israel has rejected. It’s a glimpse into the harsh reality of a humanitarian crisis with no end in sight. Today on the show, we talk to Damon about the economics of running a humanitarian nonprofit and what’s stopping more aid from reaching Gaza.
Related episodes:
Why Israel uses diaspora bonds
Why the U.S. helps pay for Israel’s military
What could convince Egypt to take Gaza’s refugees?
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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It's time for our annual beach reading recs. Today we bring you three books, with a little economic learning to boot. Our recs:
Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis
El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott
Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic
Related episodes:
Beach reading with a side of economics How to beach on a budget
How to beach on a budget
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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It's ... Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.
On today's episode: Palantir crosses a billion dollars in quarterly revenue (what do they actually do again?); mRNA vaccine research gets a big cut in RFK Jr's health department; and a climate disaster database gets a new lease on life.
Related episodes:
How Palantir, the secretive tech company, is rising in the Trump era
An indicator lost: big disaster costs
Moonshot in the arm
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez and Cooper Katz McKim. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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