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Saving lives with fewer dollars
Givewell is a nonprofit organization that gives money to “save or improve the most lives per dollar.” Part of their whole thing is a rigorous researc…
7 months, 4 weeks ago
The Consumer Sentiment vs. Consumer Spending Puzzle
Wherever consumer sentiment goes, consumer spending usually goes too. They’re like buddies that do everything together. Consumer sentiment wants a ha…
8 months ago
Days of our Tariffs
Tariffs. They’ve been announced, unannounced, re-announced, raised and lowered. It’s an on-going saga with billions at stake!
On today’s episode, we r…
8 months ago
The obscure pool of money the US used to bail out Argentina
Last month, during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States had offered to …
8 months, 1 week ago
Buy now, pay dearly? (update)
(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2022.)
Every time you shop online and make it to the checkout screen, you see those colorful pastel…
8 months, 1 week ago
A new experiment in remote work … from the inside
When people in Maine prisons started getting laptops to use in their cells for online classes and homework, it sparked this new idea. Could they have…
8 months, 2 weeks ago
Everything’s more expensive!! Pet care!! Concert tickets!! (Two Indicators)
People in the U.S. are feeling the financial squeeze, in part because of rising inflation, higher consumer prices and slowing job growth. The Indicat…
8 months, 2 weeks ago
After the shutdown, SNAP will still be in trouble
This week’s SNAP crisis is just a preview. Tucked inside the giant tax-cut and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump this summer are enormou…
8 months, 3 weeks ago
The remittance mystery
For decades, the U.S. has been the single biggest source of remittances worldwide. A remittance is a transfer of money, typically from an immigrant t…
8 months, 3 weeks ago
Should the fine have to fit the crime?
The U.S. Constitution famously outlaws “cruel and unusual punishments.” But there's another, far more obscure part of the Constitution called the Exc…
9 months ago