Planet Money

Most recent stories in Planet Money

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  NPR

  

  3 days ago

  Seven allegedly fake Chanel bags vs The RealReal : Planet Money

  NPR - Amanda Aronczyk , Jeff Guo , Jess Jiang , James Sneed

  Once upon a time, if you wanted to buy a luxury brand item secondhand (say, a Chanel handbag) you had to have an in. There was no easy way to find one. But over the past decade, the market for secondhand luxury goods has exploded. There are now many online resellers where you can shop for used and …

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  NPR

  

  6 days ago

  Our mission: Find the world’s best economic ideas (Summer School World Tour) : Planet Money

  NPR - Robert Smith , Alex Goldmark , Sophia Paliza-Carre

  Come along as we travel the world in search of the best economic ideas to bring home! From the beaches of Barbuda to the fjords of Norway, there's money (and money problems) everywhere. For this summer travel season, Planet Money Summer School will take you on a world tour for your ears. Pack that …

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  NPR

  

  How to win a penalty shootout (with game theory) : Planet Money

  NPR - Ashish Malhotra , Simon Kuper , Stefan Szymanski , Jeff Guo , Jess Jiang , Emma Peaslee

  Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest soccer scorer of all time. But when it comes to penalty kicks, Messi is merely average. Why? Maybe the answer involves game theory. According to game theory, there's an optimal strategy for taking penalty kicks. This strategy involves an idea that was once …

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  NPR

  

  Can the Trump administration make college cheaper? : Planet Money

  NPR - Kenny Malone , Cory Turner , Willa Rubin , Marianne McCune

  Will limiting how much students can borrow force schools to lower their prices? The Department of Education thinks so. It has a new plan to bring down tuition costs. Starting today, July 1st, it's going to cap how much it's willing to loan to graduate students. You read that right. To reduce the …

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  NPR

  

  We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail? : Planet Money

  NPR - Emma Peaslee , Erika Beras , Marianne McCune , Sam Yellowhorse Kesler , James Sneed

  In the early 90's, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow people to check email, make phone calls, even play games. It was basically a smartphone. But it never caught on. On today's show, a theory about why this device failed. General Magic had generous …

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  NPR

  

  Before Kalshi and Polymarket there was the Iowa Electronic Markets : Planet Money

  NPR - Rund Abdelfatah , Erika Beras , Casey Miner , Cristina Kim , Devin Katayama , Sarah Wyman , Julia Redpath , Kyana Moghadam , Alex Goldmark , Sam Yellowhorse Kesler

  Prediction markets aren't new. Election betting was common until the 1940s, then mysteriously faded away. There was an entire political era when party bosses were expected to conspicuously gamble on their candidates (even if they secretly hedged). And in the 1980s, a few economists designed an …