Planet Money

There's a pill called Suboxone that treats addiction to heroin and pain pills like oxycontin. Doctors and addicts say it's amazing. "It was the best thing that ever happened," one heroin addict told us. "I was like OH. MY. LORD. This is a miracle pill." The government spent tens of millions of dollars developing Suboxone. Doctors can prescribe it in their offices. But a lot of people who want it can't get it from a doctor, so they have to buy it on the street. Today on the show: Why people have to turn to drug dealers to get a pill that fights addiction. Note: This episode was originally posted last year. For more, see this paper on the history of Suboxone. Download the Planet Money iPhone App. Music: POP ETC's "Keep It For Your Own" and Snoop Dogg's "Whistle While You Hustle." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Spotify/ Tumblr.

On the show today, the story of an innovation that changed the way the world works, and of the man who made this innovation possible. Luca Pacioli was a monk, a mathematician, a magician and possibly, the boyfriend of Leonardo da Vinci. Jane Gleeson-White, author of Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance, tells us the story of Pacioli and how his book on mathematics changed business across the planet. Note: This episode was originally posted last year. Download the Planet Money iPhone App. Music: Noah & The Whale's "Tonight's the Kind of Night." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Spotify/ Tumblr

On today's show: Three ripped-from-the-headlines stories from Planet Money. What A U.S. Default Would Mean For Pensions, China, And Social Security If the government defaults on its debt, people all over the world who have loaned the government money won't get paid on time. One Key Thing No One Knows About Obamacare Obamacare won't work unless healthy people buy insurance. No one knows whether they will. Is Welfare A Rational Alternative To Work? A new paper argues that the value of various welfare benefits add up to well over $30,000 a year. People on welfare disagree. Note: These stories initially aired on the radio. Music: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears' "I'm Broke" and M83's "Steve McQueen." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

Last year, Americans paid $1.7 billion to play in fantasy sports leagues. Billion! On today's show, we find real businesses sprouting up to profit from the fantasy sports economy. One guy sells insurance that pays off if a (real) player on your (fantasy) team gets hurt; another settles disputes that pop up in fantasy leagues. Also on the show today: When fantasy football is a negative externality in a marriage. (Bonus: The marriage in question involves a member of the Planet Money team.) For more, see our story Cashing In On The Fantasy Sports Economy. Music: Manning Brothers' "Football On Your Phone." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

On today's Planet Money: Why a dead shark costs $12 million, and a photo of steel wool that looks like a tornado costs $1,265. In other words, we wade into the economics of the art world. For more, read Ed Winkleman's blog and check out his gallery. Browse the works of Matthew Albanese, the man behind the steel-wool tornado. And read "Art Investment as Floating Crap Game" by William Baumol, an economist and artist. Note: This episode was originally posted in 2010. Music: Sia's "Clap Your Hands." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

So we're making a T-shirt and we do this Kickstarter campaign and we raise $590,807 (which, really, we can't thank you enough). It turns out the money collected on Kickstarter is handled by Amazon. Great, we figure: This is the company that will sell you anything on the planet and get it you you the next day. And what we need in this case isn't even a thing, really. We just need Amazon's bank to send money electronically to a checking account at Chase bank. It's just information traveling over wires. How long could it take: A minute? An hour? It took five days. On today's show: Why the invisible pipes that move money around America are so slow. (And why the ones in England are so much faster.) Music: The Black Keys' "Countdown." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

On today's show, we visit Fulper Farms, a family-run dairy in New Jersey. It's a bucolic setting — white farmhouse, rolling hills, etc. But behind that peaceful image lies all the roiling tension, rising inequality and economic volatility of the 21st-century economy. We meet Claudia, the prized, high-tech cow. And we learn why even a barn full of Claudias wouldn't be enough to keep a family-run dairy afloat. For More: Meet Claudia, The High-Tech Cow Note: This episode was originally posted last year. Music: Eddie Albert's "Green Acres" and The Kinks' "Animal Farm." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

If you have cable, your bill has probably doubled over the past decade. The rise is largely driven by fees for channels you have to pay for, whether you want them or not. ESPN alone is costing you more than $5 a month — even if you never watch it. On today's show, we answer the question every cable subscriber has asked: Why can't I just pay for the channels I want? For more on the cable business, see our post, The Most (And Least) Expensive Cable Channels, In 1 Graph, and Adam Davidson's column, The 'Mad Men' Economic Miracle. Music: Dinah Washington's "T.V. Is The Thing This Year." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

Every single dollar bill in the world — every $20, every $100, everything — is printed on paper made at one small mill in Massachusetts. That's been the case for 130 years. On today's show, we visit the mill. We hear the story of the guy who jumped out a hotel window to win the government contract to print all that paper. And we ask: Will anybody be using paper money in 50 years? Subscribe. Music: Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Spotify/ Tumblr.

According to the government, there are 46.5 million Americans who live below the poverty line. In other words, that's how many people are officially poor. But pretty much everyone who studies poverty agrees: The way we arrive at this figure is completely wrong. On today's show, we figure out how we got here, why still measure poverty in a way that so many people agree is wrong, and how could we do it better.

We're in a gym full of high school students. The gym is at the headquarters of the New York Federal Reserve, just a few blocks from Wall Street. The students are here for the High School Fed Challenge. If you're a high school student and you dream of holding the U.S. economy in the palm of your hand — if you want the power to control interest rates and to print money out of thin air — the Fed Challenge is for you. On today's show, we sit in on the finals — and hear from a bunch of teenagers about what Fed policy means for them. Note: This episode was originally posted last year. Music: Fun.'s "We Are Young." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

Five years ago this month, the financial crisis hit its most intense moment. One giant company after another went bust or was rescued at the last minute, as the government launched a wave of bailouts. Another momentous thing happened five years ago this week: The Planet Money podcast came into being. Today, we replay key moments from some of our first shows, when it seemed like the entire economy could seize up at any moment. And we ask: Are we safer now than we were five years ago? Music: Noah and the Whale's "5 Years Time." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.

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.

On today's show, we check in with our reporters in Bangladesh. We hear what it was like inside the factory where the Planet Money men's T-shirt was knit, dyed, cut and sewn. And we ask: Will Bangladesh be able to move beyond making T-shirts? Music: Alex King's "Like A Sewing Machine." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App. #seedtoshirt

The cotton for the Planet Money men's T-shirt was spun into yarn in Indonesia and knit, cut and sewn into shirts in Bangladesh. Last week, we had teams of reporters and photographers in both countries — and we managed to get almost everybody on the phone at once. On today's show, we listen in on that call. Today's special bonus guest: Pietra Rivoli, the author of the book that inspired our T-shirt project. Music: Daft Punk's "Around The World" Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.