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Economics

People sit along Bitcoin Beach in El Zonte, El Salvador.

El Salvador’s bitcoin experiment rides on choppy seas as currency fluctuates

Economics

The bitcoin cryptocurrency has seen its ups and downs lately, gaining and losing 10% of its value in just the past week. Nowhere is this volatility felt more intensely than in El Salvador, which became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.

Shopkeepers and workers wait for electric power at a market following a power breakdown across the country, in Lahore, Pakistan, Jan. 23, 2023.

Lights out in Pakistan as energy-saving move backfires

Economics
Child holds onto an inflatable globe

Capitalism is ruining the world, and can save it, says economist

Climate Change
trays of printed social security checks from the US Treasury

A proposal to wipe out childhood poverty in the US

Economics
A yacht maneuvers near homes on Palm Island

Cities suffer when the 1% leave

Business, Economics and Jobs
Alongside tulips and windmills, the global image of Amsterdam is one of a city entwined with water.

Amsterdam’s coronavirus recovery plan embraces ‘doughnut economics’ for people and the planet

The Big Fix

A key part of “doughnut” economic thinking is no longer using the gross domestic product as a proxy for society’s success. 

dried mud in south africa

Climate disruption is worsening global economic inequality

Environment

New research finds that since 1961, global warming has reduced the gross domestic product of poorer countries an average of 25%, while some richer countries have benefited.

Measuring Genius

Arts, Culture & Media

David Galenson is an economist who studies labor markets. These days, he’s aiming his quantitative skills at one question: why do some artists produce their best work when they’re young and others when they’re old?

Special Guest: Richard Florida

Arts, Culture & Media

Kurt Andersen and economic development expert Richard Florida talk about how these shaky economic times affect the arts. Richard Florida is the author of The Rise of the Creative Class, which places creative work first among the causes of economic growth. Florida is currently a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution, and a professor at […]

East London street scene

Britain’s undergoing an identity crisis

Economics

As the dust settles, post-Brexit vote, conflicting views remain of what it means to be British, and on what enhances and what threatens that identity. Host Mary Kay Magistad visited London, and chats with people on different sides of the issue, with takes on identity, immigration and borders that defy stereotypes.

Latest Episode

Calculating the Costs of the Longest Government Shutdown in History