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Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers
Justin Wolfers
From world events to everyday decisions, economics explains it all. Platypus Economics makes it clear, useful, and actually fun.
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Podcast · RSS feed
Justin Wolfers
From world events to everyday decisions, economics explains it all. Platypus Economics makes it clear, useful, and actually fun.
Loading the latest episodes…
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51 episodes
Not checked · Sep 12, 2026 · 50:31
Why does the bond market matter more than the stock market for your wallet? Justin Wolfers and Bloomberg Businessweek columnist Stacey Vanek Smith take on August's inflation report, the rising odds the Fed hikes rates, and the one market that quietly sets the price of your car…
Not checked · Sep 11, 2026 · 14:02
Inflation is stuck at 3.4% and prices are outrunning your paycheck. Here's what August really showed. The August inflation report just landed, and Justin Wolfers walks you through what it means for your wallet. Plus the all-important burrito price index. Subscribe — it's the one…
Not checked · Sep 10, 2026 · 17:46
Is the promise real, and who actually pays for it? At a midterm campaign rally Wednesday night, President Trump promised every adult American citizen a $5,000 check, but only if Republicans win both the House and the Senate. He's calling them "Trump dividends." Justin Wolfers is…
Checked · Sep 10, 2026 · 19:08
Can you still trust the jobs numbers after Commerce dropped its ban on political interference? In August the Commerce Department quietly crossed out the rules that shielded official statistics from political meddling — meaning reports can now be delayed, buried, reworded, or…
Not checked · Sep 9, 2026 · 21:11
How the government can rig official statistics without ever faking a single number. A few sentences vanished from a Commerce Department directive — and almost no one noticed. In this episode of Diving In, Justin Wolfers walks you through what changed on August 19, when the…
Not checked · Sep 8, 2026 · 26:57
Canada just retaliated against President Trump's latest tariffs, and everyone wants to know how big the hit will be. Economist Justin Wolfers walks you through the whole U.S. Canada trade war, and lands on a surprising answer. By the end, you'll understand why this trade war is…
Not checked · Sep 5, 2026 · 22:58
Why did Trump's tariffs fail? It's a competence problem, not just a trade-theory problem. Economist Justin Wolfers answers your questions about why the Trump administration's tariffs earned straight F's on their own stated goals. His argument: the problem isn't only the…
Not checked · Sep 4, 2026 · 13:47
The economy added 162,000 jobs in August — far above the 50,000 to 60,000 Wall Street expected — and Justin Wolfers is smiling, because this is genuinely good news. Unemployment sits at a low 4.1%, and we've now had six straight months of job growth, which is what a normal…
Not checked · Sep 2, 2026 · 13:08
Everyone's talking about the bond market, and Justin Wolfers is here to explain what's actually going on — without the panic. In this episode of Diving In, he strips the fancy words away: the bond market is just supply and demand for loans, and right now a lot of people want to…
Not checked · Sep 2, 2026 · 23:05
Trump’s tariffs were supposed to do five things. So how did they actually score? Justin Wolfers grades the tariff agenda against the administration’s own goals. Did tariffs create leverage? Did the trade deficit fall? Did factories come home? Did America get safer? Did the…
Checked · Aug 28, 2026