Marketplace All-in-One

Today European delivery giant Just Eat Takeaway.com announced it’s looking to offload its American subsidiary Grubhub, which it purchased less than two years ago for more than $7 billion. The U.K.’s competition watchdog will get new powers to crack down on fake product reviews posted online. To crack down on overcrowding, the Italian city of Venice will require tourists who are only visiting for the day to book their slot in advance and pay an entrance fee.

The internet can be a scary place for women, from mansplaining and unwanted advances to coordinated harassment campaigns, doxxing and physical threats. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Nina Jankowicz, author of a new book about this, “How to Be a Woman Online: Surviving Abuse and Harassment, and How to Fight Back,” which comes out Thursday. Jankowicz says women are bearing most of the burden of fighting online trolls.

The U.S. has a long history of resettling refugees who are fleeing war and persecution. The current program goes back to the ’80s, after the Vietnam War.

Today, as the Joe Biden administration prepares to welcome 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, we’re wondering what happens to an economy when refugees become part of it.

On the show today: the costs associated with refugee resettlement along with the  contributions refugees make to our economy and why arguments about their being a drag on the labor force are overblown.

In the News Fix, we’ll talk about why investment firm Blackstone is betting on student housing, even after a couple of years of remote learning. Plus, the story behind right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok.

And later, a rooster makes a cameo on the show (see if you can spot it), and Kai and Amy give a listener career advice.

The International Monetary Fund slashed its prediction for global economic growth in 2022. Some big reasons: the war in Ukraine, fallout from sanctions on Russia, and the pandemic. Those factors are complicating the jobs of economic forecasters everywhere. Today, we dig into it. We’ll also revisit those Trump-era tariffs, examine the market for digital voices and check in on the evolving economics of streaming platforms.

Consumers changed their behavior during the pandemic. They ate more of their meals at home and spent more time streaming shows and movies. And now that they’re dealing with inflation, they may be changing their behavior once again. Where are we going to start seeing these changes? We asked Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. Several companies belonging to far-right radio host Alex Jones (of Infowars fame) have filed for bankruptcy. The U.N. share concerns about how the focus on war in Ukraine could strain relief efforts in other parts of the world.

One of the trends that’s been seen in the housing market has been the demand for larger houses. It’s a result of the pandemic, which funneled more people to carry out chunks of their lives indoors. However, experts warn this trend toward bigger homes could have some adverse effects on the market itself. A federal judge last night struck down a nationwide mask mandate for public transit. Soon after, major U.S. airlines dropped mask requirements, as did many airports and transit agencies. We check in on a story from a Ukrainian who fled her country and is now trying to help soldiers back home.

From the BBC World Service: The International Monetary Fund is set to release a pessimistic economic outlook. Argentina’s government plans on imposing higher levies on businesses it perceives to have profited from the war in Ukraine. International aid agencies worry that the focus on the war in Ukraine is drawing international attention and donor money away from equally needy people in other parts of the world, like Yemen and Afghanistan.

Accessing mental health care has long been difficult  and the pandemic has further increased the strain. And there are thousands of mental health apps — about 20,000 and counting — designed to tackle the problem. They range from mood trackers, guided mindfulness exercises and apps with chatbots that teach coping skills. Spending on them has grown quickly since 2019 and is predicted to reach about $500 million this year, according to a report from Deloitte. But not all these apps are backed by science. Stephen Schueller is a professor at UC Irvine and the executive director of One Mind PsyberGuide, which provides expert ratings for hundreds of wellness apps. He talked to host Meghan McCarty Carino about how the apps are rated.

Today is Tax Day, the deadline for filing taxes (or an extension, gulp). To mark the occasion, the Treasury Department called on Congress to relieve some of the pressure on an underfunded, understaffed and ill-equipped IRS. Tens of millions of Americans are waiting for their tax returns to be processed … from the last year. We’ll also discuss speculation about how big the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate hike might be. And a gentle reminder following a federal judge’s ruling striking down the CDC’s public transportation mask mandate: Don’t be a jerk. We wrap up with some Make Me Smiles about accessing banned books and a story about an interstellar visitor.

Here’s everything we talked about on the show today:

Do you have a story about a delayed return from the IRS? Email us at [email protected] or leave us a voice message at 508-827-6278, or 508-U-B-SMART.

China’s strict zero-COVID-19 policy has left workers stuck at home and goods stuck at docks or warehouses. When those measures are lifted, a tidal wave of consumer goods could flood back into American ports, and the burdened supply chain could become congested yet again. We’ll talk about it. Plus: Oil drilling on federal lands provides political drama but little relief, and regulators voice anxiety about stablecoins.