Stacey Vanek Smith

Russia has had a huge presence in the news lately. But its economy... not so huge. It's smaller than the economy of Texas. Today on the show, we look at what's been holding it back.

The GDP got all sorts of attention today. The U.S. economy grew at a stellar rate of 4.1% in the second quarter. But what does that mean? And will it continue?

Despite low unemployment, the United States economy isn't in the clear. The personal savings rate and real wages, which are waged adjusted for inflation, are not as good as they could be.

Three legends in their respective fields, three disastrous investment mistakes.

The Diamond-Water Paradox poses the question: If we need water to survive and we don't need diamonds, why are diamonds expensive and water cheap?

President Trump broke with tradition by lamenting that rising rates are keeping the dollar strong and the trade deficit wide. But rising rates and a stronger dollar are the results of his own agenda.

The European Commission just slapped Google with a $5 billion fine for abusing its Android monopoly. How did it create the alleged monopoly? By making Android free.

How something that's all around us came to be worth millions of dollars.

Three worrying indicators to keep an eye on — less complicated than the yield curve, but something you can talk about at the water cooler.

As more companies announce bans on plastic straws, NPR's Planet Money talks to one of the originators of the campaign against plastic straws to learn the strategic choices that made this campaign catch on.

It may be too late to avoid a trade war between the U.S. and China, but there might be a simple way to stop the trade wars of the future.

Women invest far less of their paychecks than men do. Sallie Krawcheck spent her career on Wall Street and she says this is a problem we need to solve.

Japan's population is shrinking. It's harder and harder to find qualified people to fill a lot of jobs. Including ninjas.

We respond to your letters, tweets and messages: We talk Iran, yield curve and how to pronounce Hyundai.

Starbucks, Ikea, Vancouver, Scotland: They've all banned plastic straws. The movement is meant to help reduce plastic waste in the ocean. But will it work, or will it backfire?

Banks and other financial institutions have their own banking accounts at the Federal Reserve. Morgan Ricks argues that regular folks should have access to Fed accounts, too.

President Trump recently announced strict economic sanctions in Iran. Today on the show, we talked to a young Iranian man about what it's like to live in the Iranian economy right now.

Every time the yield curve has inverted since 1970, the economy has fallen into recession. It's getting close to inverting now, but it may no longer be the recession predictor it once was.

Two stories from our Indicator team. One province in China makes many of the world's flags. It's a unique window on global trade. And we find out why so few teenagers are working summer jobs.