Using Planet Money Podcasts in Macroeconomics

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Originally posted on February 19, 2014.

 

William Luther recommends the use of NPR’s Planet Money podcasts in teaching a principles of macroeconomics class. He finds that listening to these podcasts informs students and increases engagement. Here, from Luther’s paper, is a chart connecting chapters in Modern Principles with links to relevant Planet Money podcasts.

 

Modern Principles: Macroeconomics

NPR’s Planet Money

The Power of Trade and Comparative Advantage

Making Christmas More Joyful, And More Efficient

GDP and the Measurement of Progress

Why GDP Matters for Schoolkids

 

Would You Rather Be Rich In 1900, Or Middle-Class Now?

 

Black Market Pharmacies And The Spam Empire Behind Them

The Wealth of Nations and Economic Growth

The Secret Document That Transformed China

 

Can A Poor Country Start Over?

 

What Two Pasta Factories Tell Us About The Italian Economy

 

If Economists Controlled The Borders

Growth, Capital Accumulation, and the Economics of Ideas

Can You Patent a Steak?

 

How To Fix The Patent Mess

 

The Price of Things You Love

 

Can Andrew Sullivan Make It On His Own?

 

The Hidden Digital Wealth In Your Pocket

Saving, Investment, and the Financial System

A Financial Adviser Bets The House

 

The (Legal) Marijuana Business

 

Cyprus Takes Away The Security Blanket

Stock Markets and Personal Finance

A Father Of High-Speed Trading Thinks We Should Slow Down

 

A Billion-Dollar Bet Against Weight-Loss Shakes

 

Don’t Believe The Hype

Unemployment and Labor Force Participation

The Past And Future Of American Manufacturing

 

Keeping The Biggest Secret In The US Economy

 

LeBron James Is Underpaid

 

The Invisible 14 Million

Inflation and the Quantity Theory of Money

How Four Drinking Buddies Saved Brazil

 

Should We Kill The Dollar Bill?

 

Where Dollar Bills Come From

Business Fluctuations: Aggregate Demand and Supply

Inside The Great Depression

 

Why The Price Of Coke Didn’t Change For 70 Years

Transmission and Amplification Mechanisms

The 14-Year-Old Who Bought A House

 

The 15-Year-Old Who Bought Two Houses

The Federal Reserve System and Open Market Operations

If Teens Ran the Fed

 

The Birth Of The Dollar Bill

Monetary Policy

The Gold Standard

 

The Gold Standard, R.I.P.

 

Bitcoin Goes to the Moon

The Federal Budget

Lighthouses, Autopsies And The Federal Budget

 

When The U.S. Paid Off The Entire National Debt

 

What If We Paid Off The Debt?

 

The Surprisingly Entertaining History Of The Income Tax

 

The Price Of Free Breast Pumps

 

Why Some People Love Tax Day

Fiscal Policy

The Great Stimulus Experiment

International Trade

The Cotton Wars

 

Why K-Pop Is Taking Over The World

 

The Con Man Who Took Down His Own Country (Then Ran For Office)

 

The Lollipop War

International Finance

Should Iceland Kill The Krona?

Political Economy and Public Choice

A Big Bridge In The Wrong Place

 

Inside Washington’s Money Machine

 

Jack Abramoff On Lobbying

 

A Former Lobbyist Tells All

 

Why Taxpayers Pay For Farmers’ Insurance

 

Schoolhouse Rock Is A Lie

 

Why Buying A Car is So Awful

 

New Jersey Wine

 

Coney Island Back In Business

About the Author
Alex Tabarrok is Bartley J. Madden Chair in Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and director of research for The Independent Institute. Tabarrok is co-author with Tyler Cowen of the popular economics blog, Marginal Revolution. His recent research looks at bounty hunters, judicial incentives and elections, crime control, patent reform, methods to increase the supply of human organs for transplant, and the regulation of pharmaceuticals. He is the editor of the books, Entrepreneurial Economics: Bright Ideas from the Dismal Science; The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society; and Changing the Guard: Private Prisons and The Control of Crime. His papers have appeared in the Journal of Law and Economics, Public Choice, Economic Inquiry, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Theoretical Politics, The American Law and Economics Review, Kyklos and many other journals. His popular articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other magazines and newspapers.