People often say that money can't buy you happiness. Sometimes, if you ask them to tell you more about it, they'll mention a famous 2010 study by Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton. That study found that higher household income correlates with greater emotional well-being, but only up to around $75,000 a year. After that, more money didn't seem to matter.

This was a famous study by two famous academics. The result stood for over a decade. And it feels good, right? Maybe the rich aren't so much happier than anyone else. But researchers have recently done a complete 180 on this idea. In 2021, psychologist Matt Killingsworth found nearly the opposite: That more money does correlate with more happiness. And that the relationship continues well beyond $75,000 per year.

Today on the show: Does more money mean fewer problems? Two researchers with totally different takes come together to hammer out a better understanding of the relationship between money and happiness.

This episode was hosted by Sally Helm and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Sean Saldana, Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, and Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Meg Cramer and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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(For our story on this year's Nobel in Economics, check out our daily show, The Indicator!)

Let's face it. Economics is filled with terms that don't always make sense to the average person. Terms that sometimes mean what you think they mean, but sometimes not at all. Not even close.

We surveyed 188 economists. And we asked them: What are the most misunderstood terms in the field of economics?

On today's show, their answers! Hear stories about near recessions, a problem with insurance, econ at your local movie theater, and... an economics term that will make undergrads blush. Strap in, and bring your popcorn!

This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler with help from Sean Saldana. It was edited by Jess Jiang, engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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If you... exist in the world, it's likely that you have gotten a letter or email at some point informing you that your data was stolen. This happened recently to potentially hundreds of millions of people in a hack that targeted companies like Ticketmaster, AT&T, Advance Auto Parts and others that use the data cloud company Snowflake.

On today's show, we try to figure out where that stolen data ended up, how worried we should be about it, and what we're supposed to do when bad actors take our personal and private information. And: How our information is being bought, sold, and stolen.

This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Keith Romer. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and edited by Meg Cramer. It was engineered by Ko Takasugi-Czernowin with an assist from Kwesi Lee, and fact-checked by Dania Suleman. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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Ray and Becky Queen live in rural Oklahoma with their kids (and chickens). The Queens were able to buy that home with a VA loan because of Ray's service in the Army. During COVID, the Queens – like millions of other Americans – needed help from emergency forbearance. They were told they could pause home payments for up to a year and then pick up again making affordable mortgage payments with no problems.

That's what happened for most American homeowners who took forbearance. But not for tens of thousands of military veterans like Ray Queen.

On today's show, we follow two reporters' journey to figure out what went wrong with the VA's loan forbearance program. How did something meant to help vets keep their houses during COVID end up stranding tens of thousands of them on the brink of foreclosure? And, once the error was spotted, did the government do enough to make things right?

Today's episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Meg Cramer. And fact-checked by Dania Suleman. Engineering by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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This is the story behind one of the most valuable — and perhaps, most improbable — technologies humanity has ever created. It's a breakthrough called extreme ultraviolet lithography, and it's how the most advanced microchips in the world are made. The kind of chips powering the latest AI models. The kind of chips that the U.S. is desperately trying to keep out of the hands of China.

For years, few thought this technology was even possible. It still sounds like science fiction: A laser strong enough to blast holes in a bank vault hits a droplet of molten tin. The droplet explodes into a burst of extreme ultraviolet light. That precious light is funneled onto a wafer of silicon, where it etches circuits as fine as a strand of DNA. Only one company in the world that can make these advanced microchip etching machines: a Dutch firm called ASML.

Today on the show, how this breakthrough in advanced chipmaking happened — and how it almost didn't. How the long-shot idea was incubated in U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories and nurtured by U.S. tech giants. And, why a Dutch company now controls it.

This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo and Sally Helm. It was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Dania Suleman, and engineered by Patrick Murray. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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In the early 90s, teenagers LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman recorded a week of their lives on Chicago's South Side. Working with StoryCorps founder Dave Isay, LeAlan and Lloyd produced a documentary they called Ghetto Life 101, one of the most acclaimed programs in public radio history. In remembrance of Lloyd, who died this week, we bring you a special presentation of Ghetto Life 101.

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What happens when paralyzing fear stops you from following your dream? In our final episode of the season...Jim Von Stein has written 8000 songs, but almost nobody has heard a single one of them...until now...

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In 1920, a father made a split-second decision to save his newborn's life by taking her to an incubator exhibit at Coney Island. We meet her in this episode, and she shares how a sideshow attraction saved her life, and thousands of others, when hospitals couldn't, ultimately changing the course of American medicine.

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Jason Romero was given a serious diagnosis. But to stop running from it he'd have to do something no one had ever done before.

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Monique "Muffie" Mousseau and her partner Felipa Deleon grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. In this episode, they share the long and sometimes painful journey of fighting for their love, their community, and their ancestors...all while making history.

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As StoryCorps' 20th anniversary approaches, we'll be looking back at important moments both in our history and the country's. This week — one more short story from our Military Voices Initiative. Sergeant Ocean Subiono tells his father, Russell Subiono, about what happened when he tried to enlist.

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In this episode, we go back 20 years to the origins of StoryCorps–the challenges of building a recording booth in Grand Central Terminal– and we catch up with the participants from the first ever radio story we broadcast on NPR.

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As we continue celebrating StoryCorps' 20th anniversary, we bring you two of our favorite stories that made a strong impression on our listeners, and we share updates with the participants from the last two decades.

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In the third episode of our special series celebrating two decades of StoryCorps, we're bringing you inside the Mobile Booth—the recording studio we built in a trailer to circle the country, capturing voices that would otherwise never be recorded. Hear some of our favorite stories from the road, and from the people who haul the trailer on a never-ending road trip.

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As we celebrate StoryCorps' 20th anniversary, we bring you the story of a man who integrated his high school as a teenager in Knoxville, Tennessee, and how a StoryCorps listener comment helped him reckon with his past five decades later.

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For most of StoryCorps' existence, we've recorded people in person at our storybooths. But on this episode of our special series celebrating 20 years of StoryCorps, we're looking back to when we stepped outside the recording booth to capture stories. Sometimes because we wanted to hear new voices... and sometimes because we had to.

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StoryCorps' initiatives have long helped us gather voices that are usually omitted from the historical record, like our LGBTQ+ Outloud initiative. In our continuing celebration of twenty years of StoryCorps, we're sharing some of our favorite recordings from that collection... and how a story close to our founder Dave Isay's heart helped lead to its creation.

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Mary Johnson-Roy first came to StoryCorps in 2011 to speak with Oshea Israel, the man who murdered her son. In the latest episode from our special series celebrating StoryCorps' 20th anniversary, we'll share updates on a conversation none of us imagined would happen back when StoryCorps started.

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This week, we're taking a break from our special series celebrating 20 years of StoryCorps to bring you an interview recorded just days ago. It's an update to a story recorded around the holidays back in 2012, and we just had to share it.

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As we close out our special series celebrating 20 years of StoryCorps, hear how our One Small Step initiative is helping to facilitate a national conversation by bringing people together from across the political spectrum.

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In "My Way," the new season of the StoryCorps podcast— stories from people who found a rhythm all their own and confidently marched to it their whole lives. Our first episode features a graduate of Hamburger University, one man's remarkably brave appearance on conservative radio in the 1990s, a New Yorker who took his mugger out to dinner, and more.

If you want to leave the StoryCorps Podcast a voicemail, call us at 702-706-TALK. Or email us at podcast@storycorps.org.

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Howie Gordon starred in over a hundred porn films in the 70s and 80s under the name Richard Pacheco. But his greatest role was as a father. At StoryCorps, he talked with his son Bobby Gordon about sex, shame, and dirty movies.

If you want to leave the StoryCorps Podcast a voicemail, call us at 702-706-TALK. Or email us at podcast@storycorps.org.

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Every athlete's looking for that extra edge — and for a lot of them, it's their family. Who drove them to practice? Who told them to never give up? In this episode, player's loved ones step into the spotlight.

If you want to leave the StoryCorps Podcast a voicemail, call us at 702-706-TALK. Or email us at podcast@storycorps.org.

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As communities across the Southern United States set about recovering from one of the most devastating hurricane seasons ever, we're doing what Mr. Rogers always told us to do when the news is scary: we're looking for the helpers. In this episode, two stories about people who have stepped up for their neighbors, despite their differences.

Leave us a voicemail at 702-706-TALK, or email us at podcast@storycorps.org.

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Nat was absolutely beaming as he proudly showed off his new Saab to his soon-to-be inlaws. Beaming that is right up to the moment that it started to roll downhill without a driver. Could Nat possibly have made a worse first impression? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.
Get access to hundreds of episodes in the Car Talk archive when you sign up for Car Talk+ at plus.npr.org/cartalk

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Meet the eclectic J-pop trio, CHAMELEON LIME WHOOPIEPIE.

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From Hikaru Utada to imase, these tracks showcase the versatility found within Japanese pop music.

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Following a set at Coachella and a breakout hit, this energetic Japanese girl group has its sights set on world domination.

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The Australian musician talks about the motivation and meaning behind Wild God, a new album with his band The Bad Seeds.

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The Los Angeles-based musician was inspired by the dark side of state's mythology in the making of her fourth studio album.

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Lou Barlow and John Davis talk about what brought them together again, plus they perform live for World Cafe.

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On The Past is Still Alive, folk songwriter Alynda Segarra reignites visions from a past life and the people they've met along the way.

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The English singer-songwriter chats about why "labour" went viral and the inspirations behind her new album.

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The English rock band looks to '80s synth pop on their seventh studio album.

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Big Richard formed to play a one-off festival gig, then the quartet fell in love with playing together.

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The band co-founded by Lowell George and led by Bill Payne has flourished with their gumbo approach to rock and roll.

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The alternative rock pioneers perform an exclusive set ahead of the release of their latest album.

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The record producer and composer sought inspiration from his beginnings in Sacramento for his latest record.

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The saxophonist has spent his life developing his unique, physically demanding performance style.

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We're hard at work on new episodes of the TED Radio Hour, which will start rolling out in March. In the meantime, new host Manoush Zomorodi shares some of her favorite episodes of the show. This episode originally aired on May 10, 2019.

Our greatest breakthroughs and triumphs have one thing in common: creativity. But how do you ignite it? And how do you rekindle it? This hour, TED speakers explore ideas on jumpstarting creativity.

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With many of us stuck at home right now, it's natural to feel bored and listless. But our new host Manoush Zomorodi is kind of an expert in boredom - she wrote a book and gave a TED Talk on the topic - and she says it doesn't have to be so bad. In 2018, Guy Raz interviewed Manoush for our episode "Attention Please." Listen to why we might actually need to feel bored in order to jump-start our creativity.

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More than ever, we need to make time for joy. This hour, Manoush and TED's Head Curator Helen Walters explore talks that surprise, inspire, and delight.

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Many of us were taught biological sex is a question of female or male, XX or XY ... but it's far more complicated. This hour, TED speakers explore what determines our sex. Guests on the show include artist Emily Quinn, journalist Molly Webster, neuroscientist Lisa Mosconi, and structural biologist Karissa Sanbonmatsu.

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Original broadcast date: May 8, 2020. Many of us were taught biological sex is a question of female or male, XX or XY ... but it's far more complicated. This hour, TED speakers explore what determines our sex. Guests on the show include artist Emily Quinn, journalist Molly Webster, neuroscientist Lisa Mosconi, and structural biologist Karissa Sanbonmatsu.

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Original broadcast date: April 17, 2020. More than ever, we need to make time for joy. This hour, Manoush and TED's Head Curator Helen Walters explore talks that surprise, inspire, and delight.

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Conflict is a part of life. But in a polarized world, reaching a resolution is harder than ever. This hour, TED speakers explore creative and extraordinary ways of approaching conflict. Guests on the show include authors Shaka Senghor and Ebony Roberts, zoologist Lucy King, and radio journalist Jad Abumrad.

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False information on the internet makes it harder and harder to know what's true, and the consequences have been devastating. This hour, TED speakers explore ideas around technology and deception. Guests include law professor Danielle Citron, journalist Andrew Marantz, and computer scientist Joy Buolamwini.

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Cities are never static; they can transform in months, years, or centuries. This hour, TED speakers explore how today's cities are informed by the past, and how they'll need to evolve for the future. Guests include archaeologist Alyssa Loorya, architects Marwa Al-Sabouni and Rahul Mehrotra, and landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom.

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Recessions, depressions, bubbles, and blue skies — our economy has a history of soaring and plummeting. This hour, TED speakers look to the past for lessons on building a more stable financial future. Guests include journalist Kathleen Day, financial advisor Tammy Lally, writer Elizabeth White, and filmmaker Abigail Disney.

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Conflict is a part of life. But in a polarized world, reaching resolution is harder than ever. This hour, TED speakers explore creative and extraordinary ways of approaching conflict. Guests on the show include authors Shaka Senghor and Ebony Roberts, zoologist Lucy King, and radio journalist Jad Abumrad.

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