The Indicator from Planet Money

Ukraine desperately needs money. And there's a tempting solution sitting in a Belgian financial institution: nearly $200 billion in frozen Russian assets. In today's episode, we learn about this unique depository where most of the Russian assets are stored and two proposals to get some of this money to Ukraine.

Related episodes:
The cost of a dollar in Ukraine (Apple / Spotify)
Russia's sanctions, graded (Apple)
Why Israel uses diaspora bonds (Apple / Spotify)
Economic warfare vs. Fortress Russia

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The rising cost of living and longer life expectancy is making it harder for Americans to retire comfortably. Millions of Americans are behind on saving for retirement and face the possibility of working in their old age.

Economist Teresa Ghilarducci says she has a plan that could fix retirement in America. In her book, "Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy," she proposes a few policies that she believes can help Americans currently struggling to retire. Today on the show, we talk to her about her ideas and why the current status quo is more serious than we think.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to issue new rules this week on how companies disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. This is part of a broader movement for more environmentally and socially conscious financial options, known as ESG investing. Today on the show, what the proposed climate disclosure rule says, why it's so controversial, and if it passes, what that'll mean for investors and the stock market.

Related episodes:
The OG of ESGs (Apple / Spotify)

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One estimate says 2.4 million people die in the U.S. each year, and burying them is expensive: a typical burial can cost about $10,000. That's a lot of money, caskets, and plots filling up cemeteries. But ... what if there was a cost-effective option to bury people, one that was good for the Earth and your pocket book? Today, we look at the prices and features of sustainable burials.

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It's Indicators of the Week, our weekly look under the hood of the global economy! Today on the show: Tyler Perry halts his film studio expansion plans because of AI, Wendy's communications about a new pricing board goes haywire and a key inflation measure falls.

Related episodes:
Listener Questions: the 30-year fixed mortgage, upgrade auctions, PCE inflation (Apple / Spotify)
AI creates, transforms and destroys... jobs (Apple / Spotify)
The secret entrance that sidesteps Hollywood picket lines (Apple / Spotify)
The Birth And Death Of The Price Tag

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Israel has long raised money from individual supporters living overseas through a tool called diaspora bonds. This financing tool is part patriotic gift and part investment. Today, we look at how diaspora bonds work and how Israel is making use of them for its war effort.

Related episodes:
The Great Remittance Mystery

Oil prices and the Israel-Hamas war (Apple / Spotify)

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From "Hot Labor Summer" to "Striketober," 2023 was another big year for workers joining picket lines. Today on the show, we'll dig into two recent reports that shed light on the state of labor unrest in the U.S.. We'll look at what industries are driving this trend, how workers are feeling about their jobs and what that says about the American labor movement.

Related episodes:
Why residuals are taking center stage in actors' strike (Apple / Spotify)
The never-ending strike (Apple / Spotify)
The strike that changed U.S. labor

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Super Bowl ads this year relied heavily on nostalgia and surprise –– a few tricks that turn out to embed information into our brains. Today, neuroscientist Charan Ranganath joins the show to dissect the world of marketing to its biological fundamentals and reveal advertisers' bag of tricks.

Charan Ranganath's new book is Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold On to What Matters.

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Any day now, social media platform Reddit is expected to launch an initial public offering (IPO), earmarking shares for its most dedicated users. On today's show, our friends at WBUR podcast Endless Thread help us unpack why Reddit is making this move, and what it might mean for Reddit's stock.

Related episodes:
r/boxes, r/Reddit, r/AIregs (Apple / Spotify)

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Indicators of the week is back! This time, we explore why oil and gas companies are pulling in record profits, whether bad commercial property debt is likely to spark a financial crisis and how much a lost tooth goes for in this economy.

Related Episodes
What could break next? (Apple / Spotify)

What's really happening with the Evergrande liquidation (Apple / Spotify)

How an empty office becomes a home

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Next week, the US Supreme Court will hear a case that pits the Attorneys General of Texas and Florida against a trade group representing some of the biggest social media companies in the world. Today, how we got here, and now the case could upend our online experience.

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Capital One Financial Corporation plans to acquire Discover Financial Services in a $35 billion deal that would combine two of the largest U.S. credit card companies. Today on the show, five big questions about the deal, and the opaque system behind every swipe, tap or insertion of your credit card.

Related:
Planet Money's TikTok on the secret behind credit card rewards

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In business, the million-dollar question is how to get people to buy stuff. But in wildlife conservation, the challenge is: how do we get people to not buy stuff? How do we bring down demand for fur, ivory and rhino horns? Today on the show, the story of a business trying to make lab-grown rhino horns and the backlash that followed.

Check out more of Juliana Kim's reporting for NPR here.

Related:
Supply, demand, extinction (Apple / Spotify)
Rhino Bonds
Shooting Bambi to Save Mother Nature

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It's Indicators of the Week — our weekly look under the hood of our global economy. Today we look at why cocoa prices are soaring, whether India's electoral bonds are bad for democracy and how a typo sent Lyft shares (briefly) soaring.

Related:
Cocoa prices hit a 47-year high before Valentine's Day
Can India become the next high-tech hub? (Apple / Spotify)
Lyft going public: The dual-class share dilemma
Big donors and pay-to-play politics

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In 2023, The Federal Reserve and other banking regulators announced they were making changes to how they grade banks on servicing local communities. This all stems from a 1977 law called the Community Reinvestment Act, which was designed to encourage banks to better meet the needs of moderate and low-income borrowers. However, major banking trade groups weren't too excited about the new rules and filed a lawsuit against the banking regulators last week.

Today on the show, we explain the history of racist housing policies in the United States and how that history informs the banks' fight with the government today.

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Egypt's economy is facing its worst crisis in decades. The situation could further destabilize the Middle East if it goes unresolved. Now, the International Monetary Fund is working with Egyptian leadership to figure out another deal for a multi-billion dollar loan ... but will it be enough? Today, we look at how Egypt has fallen into economic crisis and whether its economy is too big to fail.

Related episodes:
What could convince Egypt to take in Gaza's refugees? (Apple / Spotify)

Red Sea tensions spell trouble for global supply chains (Apple / Spotify)

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Roses are red. Violets are blue. We have another Indicator Quiz for you! Today's episode tests one loyal listener on their econ knowledge about our recent defense series, and they give us their best Valentine's Day cocktail recommendation. Play along with us and see how you do!

Are you interested in being a contestant on our next Indicator Quiz? Email us your name, city and phone number to indicator@npr.org and put "Indicator Quiz" in the subject line.

Related episodes:
Can Just-In-Time handle a new era of war? (Apple / Spotify)
Are we overpaying for military equipment? (Apple / Spotify)
How to transform a war economy from peacetime (Apple / Spotify)
How to transform a war economy from peacetime (Apple / Spotify)
How the world economy could react to escalation in the Middle East (Apple / Spotify)
How niche brands got into your grocery store (Apple / Spotify)
WTF is a bitcoin ETF (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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China is in the economic doldrums in part due to its slumping real estate market. And one of the largest property developers in mainland China is a huge part of the story. Evergrande is drowning in about $300 billion of debt. And after months of attempting to restructure, one of its entities is now being forced to liquidate. We look at what that means and how the Chinese economy will be affected.

Related episodes:
China's weakening economy in two Indicators (Apple / Spotify)

Tumbling Chinese stocks and rapid Chipotle hiring (Apple / Spotify)

The mess at the heart of China's economy (Apple / Spotify)

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It is Friday, and Indicators of the Week is back — SUPER Edition. Today, what one New York bank's shakiness means for the wider economy, why Mexican imports in the US are super surging, and the T. Swift effect on the Super Bowl.

Related Episodes:
Economics, boosternomics and Swiftnomics (Apple/Spotify)
Does the U.S. have too many banks? (Apple/Spotify)

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For decades, Saudi Arabia's economy has been defined by its abundant oil reserves. Its ability to influence global oil supply propelled Saudi Arabia to one of the richest countries in the world. The Saudi royal family became important players on the world stage. However, waning dominance in the oil market is forcing the Saudi government to think differently about its reliance on the commodity.

Today on the show, we explain Saudi Arabia's fantastical vision for its future and how the government is using its present influence in the oil market to fund it.

Related episodes:
Why oil in Guyana could be a curse

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