From the Yangtze to the Yellow River, China is traversed by great waterways, which have defined its politics and ways of life for centuries. Water has been so integral to China’s culture, economy, and growth and development that it provides a window on the whole sweep of Chinese history. In The Water Kingdom, renowned writer Philip Ball opens that window to offer an epic and powerful new way of thinking about Chinese civilization.

"From #1 New York Times bestselling author Thomas E. Ricks, a dual biography of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, with a focus on the pivotal years from the mid-1930s through the 1940s, when their farsighted vision and inspired action in the face of the threat of fascism and communism helped preserve democracy for the world. Both George Orwell and Winston Churchill came close to death in the mid-1930's— Orwell shot in the neck in a trench line in the Spanish Civil War, and Churchill struck by a car in New York City. If they'd died then, history would scarcely remember them. At the time, Churchill was a politician on the outs, his loyalty to his class and party suspect. Orwell was a mildly successful novelist, to put it generously. No one would have predicted that by the end of the 20th century they would be considered two of the most important people in British history for having the vision and courage to campaign tirelessly, in words and in deeds, against the totalitarian threat from both the left and the right. Together, to an extent not sufficiently appreciated, they kept the West's compass set toward freedom as its due north. It's not easy to recall now how lonely a position both men once occupied. By the late 1930's, democracy was discredited in many circles, and authoritarian rulers were everywhere in the ascent. There were some who decried the scourge of communism, but saw in Hitler and Mussolini 'men we could do business with,' if not in fact saviors. And there were others who saw the Nazi and fascist threat as malign, but tended to view communism as the path to salvation. Churchill and Orwell, on the other hand, had the foresight to see clearly that the issue was human freedom— that whatever its coloration, a government that denied its people basic freedoms was a totalitarian menace and had to be resisted. In the end, Churchill and Orwell proved their age's necessary men. The glorious climax of Churchill and Orwell is the work they both did in the decade of the 1940'sto triumph over freedom's enemies. And though Churchill played the larger role in the defeat of Hitler and the Axis, Orwell's reckoning with the menace of authoritarian rule in Animal Farm and 1984 would define the stakes of the Cold War for its 50-year course, and continues to give inspiration to fighters for freedom to this day. Taken together, in Thomas E. Ricks's masterful hands, their lives are a beautiful testament to the power of moral conviction, and to the courage it can take to stay true to it, through thick and thin." -- Provided by publisher.

Written by locals, Fodor's travel guides have been offering expert advice for all tastes and budgets for more than 80 years. Packed with landmark sights, world-renowned museums, awe-inspiring churches, fabulous trattorias, and, of course, the Vatican, Rome is a city that's worth returning to over and over again. And with so much to see and do in the Eternal City, Fodor's Rome is the guide to help travelers make the most of every trip.

"Follow in the footsteps of much loved authors, discover the landscapes that sparked their imaginations, and learn behind-the-scenes stories in this expanded and completely updated second edition of Novel Destinations. Across more than 500 literary locales in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, experience famous authors' homes, book festivals, literary walking tours, lodgings, restaurants, bars for bibliophiles, and much more."--page 4 of cover.

Event Begins: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 8:00pm
Location: Intramural Sports Building
Organized By: Maize Pages Student Organizations

During the Fall 2024 semester, Bujinkan Budo Club training will be held on Wednesdays from 20:00 - 21:30 (8-9:30pm) at the Intramural Sports Building (IMSB) in Room MPR B. If you are interested in trying out a class, please send a message through Maize Pages or an email to michiganbujinkan@gmail.com. --For more information, email us at michiganbujinkan@gmail.com or checkout our website, which also includes a training schedule!

Event Begins: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 6:30pm
Location: Museum of Art
Organized By: Spectrum Center

Who are you? What is your story? How do you express yourself? The experiences of Black queer life are reflected in the ways we tell our stories. We will explore a kiki methodology grounded in ballroom culture and Black queer storytelling. Drawing from queer of color critique and narrative construction, kiki methodology engages in three components: Black queer meaning-making, Black queer storytelling, and Black queer artistic expression. Kiki methodology connects envisioning and centering words, feelings, and voices of the Black queer community in the form of storytelling in higher education. We will engage about what is needed to be in queer community and kinship through storytelling.

ABOUT DR. HUTCHINGS
Dr. Quortne R. Hutchings (they, them) is a first-generation college graduate, proud Ronald E. McNair scholar alum, and assistant professor of higher education at Northern Illinois University. Their research primarily focuses on Black gay, bisexual, queer, and non-binary undergraduate and graduate students’ academic and social experiences in higher education, minoritized student affairs professionals’ experiences in student and academic affairs, and supporting students, faculty, and staff navigating substance use and recovery. Their research has been published in the Journal of College Student Development, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Journal of Higher Education, and International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.

TRANS AWARENESS MONTH
Trans Awareness Month is presented by Spectrum Center, and events are presented by units across campus. Find more Trans Awareness Month events at spectrumcenter.umich.edu/trans-awareness-month

Event Begins: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 6:00pm
Location:
Organized By: University Career Center

Get to Know Trading Desk Operations Engineer (TDOE)at Jane Street! Date: Wednesday, November 13thLocation: ZoomTime: 6:00pm - 7:00pm ETJoin us for a virtual information session aboutJane Street's TDOE Internship! As a Trading Desk Operations Engineer (TDOE) intern, you’ll be integral to the firm’s success, helping to build and maintain desk infrastructure that supports the trading of thousands of financial products across 200 venues in over 45 countries. TDOEInterns wear many hats, helping to manage the operational side of the trading desk’s activities and interfacing with various groups within the firm to ensure our work is accurate and efficient. Join us to learn more!Sign up here by 12PM on Tuesday, November 12th. We will confirm attendees by EOD on November 12th. _______________Jane Street is a quantitative trading firm with offices worldwide. We hire smart, humble people who love to solve problems, build systems, and test theories.You’ll learn something new every day in our office—whether it’s connecting with a colleague to share perspectives, or participating in a talk, class, or game night. Our success is driven by our people and we never stop improving.Want to learn more? Check out the latest happenings at Jane Street.

Event Begins: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 4:00pm
Location:
Organized By: University Career Center

Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Mental Health Training Program would like to invite you to join us and a panel of experts at one of our upcoming Psychology Postdoctoral Residency Virtual Information Sessions. The session will provide you with a high-level overview of Kaiser Permanente, details around the program and position, and an opportunity to ask questions. We look forward to seeing you!

Event Begins: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 4:00pm
Location: Lane Hall
Organized By: Donia Human Rights Center

Payal Shah, JD, Director, Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, Physicians for Human Rights; Tamara Dávila, Human Rights Fellow at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in Kalamazoo College, Michigan; Seda Saluk, Assistant Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Michigan.

Co-sponsored by: U-M Global Feminisms Project, Department of Women's and Gender Studies, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, and Center for Middle East and North African Studies

This interdisciplinary panel will discuss ongoing efforts around the world to defend reproductive justice as an essential human right, tied to the rights to life, health, equality and autonomy. Speakers will address the role of legal and medical professionals as well as scholars and activists in documenting the harm of restrictions on reproductive rights and advocating for victims with particular focus on the U.S., Nicaragua and Turkey.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required if you intend to participate virtually.

Register at: https://myumi.ch/qV9xg

CHAIR:

Professor Michele Heisler, MD, MPA

Professor, Internal Medicine, Health Behavior and Health Equity; Medical Director, Physicians for Human Rights.

Dr. Michele Heisler is renowned for her work in advancing health through respect for human rights and addressing social determinants of health. Internationally recognized for her research on the health consequences of human rights violations, she has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles and has been instrumental in developing protocols, legislation, and partnerships aimed at preventing violence and discrimination.

PANELISTS:

Payal Shah, JD

Director, Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, Physicians for Human Rights (participating virtually via Zoom)

Payal Shah, a distinguished human rights lawyer with over 15 years in gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights advocacy, currently directs a major initiative on reproductive rights at Physicians for Human Rights. Her work focuses on training and advocacy to support survivors of sexual violence and improve forensic evidence collection globally.

Tamara Dávila

Human Rights Fellow, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, Kalamazoo College, Michigan

Tamara Dávila, a Nicaraguan psychologist, feminist activist, and human rights defender, has dedicated her career to advocating for sexual and reproductive rights and supporting survivors of violence. Dávila's activism has led to her imprisonment, and she continues her advocacy work from exile in the United States, focusing on empowering marginalized communities.

Seda Saluk, PhD

Assistant Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Michigan

Feminist anthropologist Seda Saluk specializes in medical anthropology, science and technology studies, and Middle East studies. Her current book project, “Monitoring Reproduction: Surveillance and Care in Turkey”, investigates the complexities of reproductive surveillance against the backdrop of demographic changes. Her research has been widely supported and published in several leading academic journals.

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.

Event Begins: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 12:00pm
Location: Rackham 4th Floor Assembly Hall
Organized By: Sessions @ Michigan

You Don't Belong Here: The Stories Our Systems Tell (and Why We Have to Disrupt Them)
There is a widespread story that institutions of higher education value diversity and will actively foster belonging for all in the community. In actuality, though, many members of the higher education community continue to face marginalization and othering within their professional and educational spaces. This session centers around an embodied case study depicting one woman’s reflections on her experiences of higher education that sent a persistent, systemic message that she didn’t belong. Through session activities, participants will consider how these messages manifest and why they continue to occur despite the extensive labor of individuals sincerely committed to advancing equity. Together, they brainstorm possibilities for changes that could increase equity at a systems level. This session is appropriate for faculty, graduate students, and academic leaders.
This session can be offered in a fully virtual, synchronous format (90 minutes) or a fully in-person synchronous format (120 minutes).
**The video performance portion of this session contains strong language. It includes explicit descriptions of racist and classist behaviors and the impact of systemic inequities on individuals and communities.

As San Francisco’s first and only Deaf-centered restaurant closed last week, many mourned its loss. Writer Anna Mindess reflects on what it means for the community.

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Connecting the Dots Across Systems

South Asia grapples with escalating levels of malnutrition in various forms, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies, alongside increasing incidence of diet-related non-communicable diseases. Malnutrition results from a complex interplay of factors incorporating household and individual decision-making, agriculture and food systems, healthcare services, education, and socio-ecological systems that determine access to services and […]

The post Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Connecting the Dots Across Systems appeared first on IFPRI.

The Conversation Africa has published an oped by Joachim De Weerdt and Jan Duchoslav analyzing the food security situation in Malawi, which has been put at severe risk by the drought brought on by the El Niño weather pattern. 

Virtual Event: June 12, 2024 at 10:00am-11:00am EDT. In this webinar, we will demonstrate how RIAPA has been used to identify priority agricultural value chains that most effectively contribute to development outcomes.

Integrating reforms with global goals.

In Memoriam: Dr. Djimé Adoum

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) mourns the passing of Dr. Djimé Adoum, a member of IFPRI’s Board of Trustees and a trusted friend of the Institute. Dr. Adoum passed away on December 15, 2023 in Washington, DC. Dr. Adoum served on IFPRI’s Board of Trustees since May 2019 and we were fortunate to […]

The post In Memoriam: Dr. Djimé Adoum appeared first on IFPRI.

Environmental proteomics as a useful methodology for early-stage detection of stress in anammox engineered systems  ScienceDirect.com

Micropillar arrays, wide window acquisition and AI-based data analysis improve comprehensiveness in multiple proteomic applications  Nature.com

Plasma proteomics and lipidomics facilitate elucidation of the link between Alzheimer's disease development and vessel wall fragility  Nature.com

Top-down proteomics  Nature.com

Proteomics approach to discovering non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers and understanding the pathogenesis of endometriosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis  Journal of Translational Medicine

Decrypting the molecular basis of cellular drug phenotypes by dose-resolved expression proteomics  Nature.com

Highly sensitive site-specific SUMOylation proteomics in Arabidopsis  Nature.com

Proteomics of mouse brain endothelium uncovers dysregulation of vesicular transport pathways during aging  Nature.com

The proteomic landscape of in vitro cultured endothelial cells across vascular beds  Nature.com

CTA is your best way to get to all the fun activities happening around town. Customers can save money by purchasing an unlimited rides pass, either the 1-Day ($5) – far more economical and convenient than the price of gas and parking - or the 3-Day ($15) pass – a real budget-saving move.

Bears fans have the best End Zone dance in the National Football League when they take CTA to and from Soldier Field Sunday. FREE rides are provided after da Bears face the Titans —courtesy of our partners, Miller Lite. The free rides will be available on the following CTA routes for three hours on Sunday – beginning at approximately 3 p.m.:

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), and the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Agency (CMAP) are partnering to create a unified approach and advance progress on this critical multi-modal corridor with a commitment to improving mobility, accessibility and quality of life for motorists, transit riders, residents and corridor communities.

(Wed, Nov 13 2024 10:00 PM to Thu, Nov 14 2024 3:45 AM) Orange Ln trns will operate counterclockwise on the Outer Loop. Board/exit Orange Ln trns on the Brown Line platform at all Loop stations.

The post Do policies aimed at women miss the gender pay gap target? appeared first on Personnel Today.

We tend to think of economists as cold, unfeeling, attempting to be as rational as possible. But once a month, economists pick up the phone to just... check in with us. How are we feeling? Good, bad, worse than a year ago? It's a very specific phone call with very specific questions and a few years ago we looked into the origins of this very important survey that factors into economic decision making. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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The story of the back-room dealings that created America's central bank. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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After World War II devastated the global economy, there was a push for a new universal currency. This is the story of how the U.S. dollar won. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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What a business that makes ramps for wiener dogs teaches us about the massive power of tech giants. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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In the early 90s, American economist Jeffrey Sachs was a part of a team that tried to transform Russia's economy. It did not go as planned. He tells us what he thinks went so wrong. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

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High gas prices have fueled speculation and investigations — is anyone raising prices and keeping prices high for profit? To find out, we break down the price of gas, piece by piece, to show you how we get to the price we see at the pump and how much everyone profits at each step of the way. | Subscribe to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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When it comes to international trade and finance, everyone pretty much speaks one language: the U.S. dollar. So when the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates and the dollar suddenly gets strong, it can cause huge headaches all over the world.

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If you are a congressperson or a senator and you have an idea for a new piece of legislation, at some point someone will have to tell you how much it costs. But, how do you put a price on something that doesn't exist yet?

Since 1974, that has been the job of the Congressional Budget Office, or the CBO. The agency plays a critical role in the legislative process: bills can live and die by the cost estimates the CBO produces.

The economists and budget experts at the CBO, though, are far more than just a bunch of number crunchers. Sometimes, when the job is really at its most fun, they are basically tasked with predicting the future. The CBO has to estimate the cost of unreleased products and imagine markets that don't yet exist — and someone always hates the number they come up with.

On today's episode, we go inside the CBO to tell the twisting tale behind the pricing of a single piece of massive legislation — when the U.S. decided to finally cover prescription drug insurance for seniors. At the time, some of the drugs the CBO was trying to price didn't even exist yet. But the CBO still had to tell Congress how much the bill would cost — even though the agency knew better than anyone that its math would almost definitely be wrong.

We want to hear your thoughts on the show! We have a short, anonymous survey we'd love for you to fill out: n.pr/pmsurvey

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Remember pagers? They were huge in the 80s — these little devices that could receive short messages. Sir Mix-A-Lot even had a song about them! But then cell phones came along, and pagers more or less became obsolete.

Except there's one group of people who still carry pagers: medical doctors. At a surprisingly large number of hospitals, the pager remains the backbone of communication. Need to ask a doctor a question? Page them. Need to summon a doctor to an emergency? Page them. And then... wait for them to call you back.

Almost everyone agrees that pagers are a clunky and error-prone way for doctors to communicate. So why do so many hospitals still rely on them?On today's show: A story about two doctors who hatched a plan to finally rid their hospital of pagers. And the surprising lessons they learned about why some obsolete technologies can be so hard to replace.

This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Keith Romer and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Robert Rodriguez with help from Maggie Luthar. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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Economics Job Market Rumors is a website that's half a job information Wiki, where people post about what's going on inside economics departments, and half a discussion forum, where anyone with an internet connection can ask the economics hive mind whatever they want. All anonymously.

People can talk about finding work, share rumors, and just blow off steam. And that steam can get scaldingly hot. The forum has become notorious for racist and sexist posts, often attacking specific women and people from marginalized backgrounds.

Last year, economist Florian Ederer and engineer Kyle Jensen discovered a flaw in the way the site gave anonymity to its users. The flaw made it possible to identify which universities and institutions were the sources of many of the toxic posts on the site. And helped answer a longstanding question that's dogged the economics profession: was the toxicity on EJMR the work of a bunch of fringey internet trolls, or was it a symptom of a much deeper problem within economics itself?

This episode was hosted by Mary Childs and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by Willa Rubin with help from James Sneed and Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Keith Romer and engineered by Josh Newell. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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Argentina has been on a decades-long search for economic stability, but it always seems to be out of reach. High inflation has been plaguing the country and just surpassed 160% a year.

Over the past couple of years, the local currency has collapsed. One U.S. dollar used to be worth 20 Argentinean pesos in 2018. Today, one U.S. dollar is worth 1,000 pesos on the black market. And that means for Argentineans, the real prices of everything — from groceries to gas — have spiked.

In a country where the local currency is in free fall, promising to replace that currency with the US dollar can seem like a magical solution.

Argentina's new president, Javier Milei, won in part by promising to do just that - to dollarize. To scrap Argentina's peso and replace it with the relatively stable, predictable, boring United States dollar.

On today's show, what does dollarizing mean? Why dollarize, how to do it, and will it even work?

For more:
A black market, a currency crisis, and a tango competition in Argentina (Apple, Spotify, NPR)
Venezuela's Fugitive Money Traders
Why Ecuador Uses The Dollar? : The Indicator from Planet Money

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Our friends at NPR's news quiz Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! recently had a very Planet Money guest on their show: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. They asked her about smoking pot, her extremely high scores in Candy Crush, and when to expect the Harriet Tubman $20 bill.

Today, we're sharing an excerpt of that episode with you, along with some exclusive questions just for Planet Money listeners.

You can listen to the full show and subscribe to Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! wherever you find your podcasts.

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It's Groundhog Day, and the eyes of the nation have turned to a small town in western Pennsylvania. And, just like last year, all anyone can talk about is Punxsutawney Phil! It is impossible to find a news story that is not about one furry prognosticator.

Well, almost impossible...

Once again, our Planet Money hosts find themselves trapped in the endless Groundhog Day news cycle, and their only way out is to discover an economics story from Groundhog Day itself interesting enough to appease the capricious Groundhog Gods!

So rise and shine campers (and don't forget your booties) as hosts Kenny Malone and Amanda Aronczyk scour the news of February 2nds past, to try to find the perfect story.

This episode was hosted by Kenny Malone and Amanda Aronczyk. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Keith Romer, and engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez. It was fact-checked by James Sneed. Our executive producer is Alex Goldmark.

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When you buy a bottle of rum in the United States, by law nearly all the federal taxes on that rum must be sent to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It's an unusual system that Congress designed decades ago to help fund these two U.S. territories. In 2021 alone, these rum tax payments added up to more than $700 million.

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands split the money according to how much rum each territory produces. And the territories produce a lot of it — especially Puerto Rico, which single handedly supplies the majority of the rum that Americans drink.

But in 2008, the U.S. Virgin Islands pulled off a coup. It convinced one of the largest rum brands in the world, Captain Morgan, to abandon Puerto Rico and to shift its operations to the tiny island of St. Croix.

This was the beginning of the Rum Wars.

On today's show, the story of how a scheme designed to help Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands turned them into bitter rivals. And how it ended up putting hundreds of millions of dollars a year — U.S. taxpayer dollars — into the pockets of big liquor companies instead.

This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo and Sarah Gonzalez. It was produced by James Sneed with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Molly Messick, engineered by Cena Loffredo, and fact checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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There's been a lot of disagreement in Congress and in the country about whether the U.S. should continue to financially support the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Some taxpayers don't think the U.S. should give Ukraine any money to fight off Russia's invasion. And some taxpayers have concerns about how they might be funding weapons that have been used to kill civilians in Gaza. And there are questions about how much individual taxpayers contribute to war efforts, generally.

So in this episode, we attempt to do the math: The average taxpayers' contribution to Israel and Ukraine. It's not so simple. But in attempting to do this math, we get this window into the role of our tax dollars on foreign assistance, and how the U.S. sells weapons to other countries.

For links to some of the reports we looked at to report this episode, check out the episode page on NPR.org.

This episode was hosted by Sarah Gonzalez and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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This episode originally ran in 2015.

About one hundred years ago, a scientist and statistician named Francis Galston came upon an opportunity to test how well regular people were at answering a question. He was at a fair where lots of people were guessing the weight of an ox, so he decided to take the average of all their guesses and compare it to the correct answer.

What he found shocked him. The average of their guesses was almost exactly accurate. The crowd was off by just one pound.

This eerie phenomenon—this idea that the crowd is right—drives everything from the stock market to the price of orange juice.

So, we decided to test it for ourselves. We asked Planet Money listeners to guess the weight of a cow.

Spoiler: You can see the results here.

This episode was hosted by David Kestenbaum and Jacob Goldstein. It was produced by Nadia Wilson and edited by Bryant Urstadt. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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We wade into the heated debate over immigrants' impact on the labor market. When the number of workers in a city increases, does that take away jobs from the people who already live and work there? Does a surge of immigration hurt their wages?

The debate within the field of economics often centers on Nobel-prize winner David Card's ground-breaking paper, "The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market." Today on the show: the fight over that paper, and what it tells us about the debate over immigration.

More Listening:
- When The Boats Arrive
- The Men on the Roof

This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Jeff Guo. It was produced by Willa Rubin, edited by Annie Brown, and engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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Episodes each Wednesday through labor day. Find all the episodes from this season here. And past seasons here. And follow along on TikTok here for video Summer School.

Planet Money Summer School has arrived at the birth of the United States and the chance to set up a whole new economy from scratch. Should there be a centralized bank? Should there be a single currency? We'll travel to two moments in the country's early history when the founders said "nope" to these questions and see what happened.

First we'll witness one of the great economic battles in U.S. history – the president of the United States versus the president of the Bank of the United States – and see how the outcome ushered in an age of financial panics. Then we'll drop in on a time before the U.S. dollar existed as we know it, when you could buy things using one of about 8,000 forms of money circulating in the country. We watch as the Civil War leads to the first standard currency. Along the way, we'll learn why the cycle of economic booms and busts persists to today despite efforts to centralize America's economy throughout history.

This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Sofia Shchukina.

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Maybe you got a boring slip of paper in the mail. Maybe you got a spammy-looking email promising you money. Surprise! You're in a class action. If you've done any commerce in the last decade, there's a good chance that someone somewhere was suing on your behalf and you have real money coming your way... if you know what to do.

Class action settlements are on the rise. And, on today's show, we're helping decipher the class action from the perspective of the average class member. How do class actions work? Why are these notices sometimes undecipherable? And, what do you stand to gain (or lose) by responding?

This episode was hosted by Kenny Malone and Nick Fountain. It was produced by James Sneed with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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"Wanna see a trick? Give us any topic and we can tie it back to the economy."

That is the bold promise in Planet Money's tagline. And we believe the show does live up to it. Over the last year, we've told stories about breakdancing, rum, pagers, buffets, colors, and heartbreak.

But then one host wondered: what if we really held ourselves to that promise? What if we challenged ourselves to find economic meaning in the most esoteric and far-flung topics imaginable?

That's when we turned to you, our listeners. And boy did you deliver. You sent in ideas so obscure, so banananas, so guaranteed to stump and bamboozle that our host maybe started to regret her life choices...but she was resolved to give it a try.

This episode was hosted by Sally Helm and Keith Romer. It was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Molly Messick and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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