Planet Money

A massive Chinese company, Alibaba, is about to have what could be the biggest public offering on planet earth. You can think of Alibaba like Amazon or Ebay, except you can buy way more — you can get a used 747 airplane, or an oil tanker, or 500 million tiny screws. Today on the show, the company that made it possible for anyone anywhere to build almost anything they want. What that company means for China, for the rest of us and for some chickens in California.  For more: http://n.pr/1oEZY9J  

Some people write a squiggle. Others just write an initial. One person draws a dude surfing. Today on the show: the signature. It's supposed to say, "This is me." But where did the idea come from? And why are we still using it? We consult a rabbi, a lawyer and a credit card executive.

The world is full of people talking about how right they are. Today on the show, we try something different: We talk to smart, thoughtful people about times they got things really, really wrong. For more: http://n.pr/1lfnG0Y

The Westfield Valley Fair Mall in California is like any other mall except for one thing: half of the mall is in the city of San Jose and the other half is in the city of Santa Clara. The boundary line runs right through the mall. For a long time, this didn't matter. But in 2012, one city — San Jose — raised its minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10 an hour. This change created two economic worlds within a single, large building. Employees doing more or less the same work, just steps away from each other, started making different wages. On today's show: minimum wage stories from a single mall. What happens when some stores suddenly have to pay their workers more — and others are still paying less.

Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in September 2013. Sure, some college degrees lead to higher paying jobs than others. But what's shocking — at least, it was shocking to us — is just how big the gap can be. The most lucrative majors typically lead to jobs with salaries over $100,000 a year. The least lucrative lead to salaries of around $30,000. On today's show, we run the numbers. We talk to people who majored in the most- and least-lucrative subjects. And we hear from an economist who says, when it comes to income, choosing a major is more important than choosing a college.

We spend a lot of time thinking about the future and planning for the future. Fifty years ago, people at the 1964 World's Fair built their vision of the future. They imagined a world of jet-packs, steel, glass, and Formica. And they committed to it in a park in New York City. Today on the show, we visit that park and visit the future as seen from the World's Fair in 1964. And we see how the future actually turned out.

The 100 dollar bill is the most popular product from the Federal Reserve. Eighty percent of all U.S. cash is in the form of 100 dollar bills, but you rarely see them. About twenty years ago, the Fed counted up all the hundreds it knew about — money in bank vaults and cash registers — and it found it had no idea where most of the hundred dollar bills had gone. And so they went on a mission to find them. Today on the show, where in the world are all the 100 dollar bills? What is Benjamin Franklin being used for? And if we don't know where they all are, should the U.S. keep making them?

Thousands of people in Detroit haven't paid their water bills. Even some businesses have skipped payment. Today on the show, how a bankrupt city is dealing with the most basic of problems — how to get people to pay their bills.

Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in April 2013. In 2012, a federal program took about $60 billion from wealthier Americans and gave it to millions of working poor. This program — a massive redistribution of wealth — has been embraced by every president from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. On today's show, we look at a huge, often overlooked, surprisingly interesting corner of the tax code: The Earned Income Tax Credit. For more, see our story A Surprisingly Uncontroversial Program That Gives Money To Poor People.

Super PACs let rich people, corporations and unions spend as much money as they want to try to influence the outcome of elections. On today's show: How a Harvard professor created a super PAC to attack super PACs. He's raised millions of dollars — in part from really rich people — to reduce the political influence of really rich people.

In most parts of the world, refugees are not allowed to work. But Mohammed Osman Ali is a refugee in Uganda, and there, he legally runs a video game arcade and a variety store. Today on the show, why most countries won't let refugees work. And why Uganda is trying something different.

Today we build our show from three short Planet Money stories. We look at when a dollar is not worth a dollar; publishing without a publisher; and, of course, Ikea. For more: * When Ikea Raises Its Minimum Wage, Where Does The Money Come From? * Money Markets: Easy To Ignore, Occasionally Dicey * Self-Published Authors Make A Living — And Sometimes A Fortune

Milk is often in the very back corner of the grocery store, as far as humanly possible from the entrance. It's a strange location for milk, because it's one the most popular items. A common explanation for this location is that by forcing customers to walk through the whole store, they will pass more products and end up purchasing more. But is that really why the milk is in the back? Can you really have a business model intentionally built around inconveniencing your customers? Today on the show, two big theories to answer this little question: Why is the milk in the back of the store? The theories reflect very different world views. To try to discover which is right, we host a friendly debate between food writer Michael Pollan and economist Russ Roberts.

We all know what a sandwich is. It's something delicious, slapped between two slices of bread. But when it comes to taxes, nothing is simple. Today on the show, what regulating sandwiches and all other takeout food tells us about taxation. And how something as simple as the sandwich sales tax ends up spawning a complicated list of definitions, interlocking exemptions and rules which somehow transform the burrito into a sandwich in the eyes of the law.

As World War 2 was ending, world leaders realized they had a problem. Countries no longer knew how to trade with each other. Their economies were devastated. So representatives from 44 nations gathered in the small town of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to come up with the solution. It came down to two different plans put forward by two very different men. One was the most famous economist in the world. A British aristocrat. The other was an American that no one remembers. But it was the American that won the day and put the U.S. dollar right in the middle of world trade. Today on the show, how the US won. The story involves a carefully laid trap, late night dancing and copious amounts of alcohol.