Robert Smith

We've all seen those portable plastic toilets at festivals and street fairs, but what happens when a community has to use them for more than a decade? Robert Smith from Planet Money takes us to a slum outside of Cape Town, South Africa where a temporary solution has lasted too long.

Shoemaker New Balance is criticizing the Obama administration over the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The company is trying to make a running shoe with 100 percent American parts and feel the trade deal will doom shoes made in the U.S.

As Puerto Rico faces a debt crisis, the island's banking institutions are trying to keep their customers calm. One great trick: making your building look solid.

Argentina is paying up. After a lengthy legal battle that could change how countries borrow money, Argentina has come to a settlement with its most stalwart creditors.

High housing costs are encouraging Londoners to build down instead of up. They're digging out basements to create underground mansions. This story originally aired on Jan. 4, 2016 on Morning Edition.

Hedgehogs are starting to disappear from the English countryside, threatened by cars, garbage and even fences. But now there's a campaign to save one of England's favorite animals.

The high cost of housing is encouraging Londoners to build down instead of up. They're digging out basements to create underground mansions — often to neighbors' dismay.

The documents are from Margaret Thatcher's time as prime minister. Among the daily bureaucratic memos: Ronald Reagan told Thatcher that she must read Tom Clancy novels to understand the Soviet Union.

A groundbreaking law on domestic abuse takes effect today in England and Wales. It expands the meaning of domestic violence to include psychological and emotional torment. So it is now a crime there to control your spouse, say, through social media or online stalking. Experts in domestic violence say it ...

A new law in the United Kingdom aims to help people trapped in an abusive marriage, even without physical abuse. The legislation makes it illegal for spouses to psychologically bully their partners.

The United Kingdom has been part of the European economic bloc since the 1970s. Britons will vote in a referendum, likely next year, about whether they want to stay in the European Union.

Same Christmas dinner as last year? You're doing it wrong. In 17th-century Britain, Christmas dinner was a lavish, experimental, 12-day drunken affair. Think Mardi Gras with snow.

A chef in the North of England is recreating the Christmas dinners of two centuries ago.

Why do the U.S. and Europe have different safety standards? Every country feels like it knows the best way to protect motorists. (This piece initially aired on April 30, 2014 on Morning Edition.)

Not too long ago, a New York taxi medallion was worth more than a million dollars. Gene Friedman managed to buy more than 1,000. But that was before Uber, and now people like Friedman face bankruptcy.

In Greece, not all the smart, young people are leaving. Some are using the crisis as an opportunity to start a new business — including one woman who want to make trucking in Greece more efficient.

The Six Million Dollar Man TV show is being rebooted. Mark Wahlberg will star in the movie remake: The Six Billion Dollar Man. We Examine why the inflated number, and what the number should really be.

The popularity of fondue wasn't an accident. It was planned by a shadowy association of Swiss cheese makers. A cheese cartel basically ruled the Swiss economy for 80 years, until fairly recently.

When Magic: The Gathering became a hit, its creators faced a surprising problem.

The penny occupies a strange spot in our economy — it's worth almost nothing. Our Planet Money Team goes on an expedition through the streets of Manhattan to find something they can buy for one cent.