Is this Mars thing really happening? SpaceX did its first test launch of Starship this spring, the rocket that it's developing to send to Mars. But getting to Mars is still a long way off. So does SpaceX have the funding and business plan to pull it off?

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Indicators all about kicking the can down the road but never far enough. A deal on water in the west, the US's tippy top credit rating gets put on notice, and tech companies want us to have less fun and fewer shared passwords.

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Money market funds are a key aspect of the financial system and hold about $5.75 trillion of assets. Today, we explain what makes up a money market fund, why they've been looking shaky lately, and why a potential debt default is making things worse.

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A corporate titan and a cautious professor face off before Congress and ... agree with each other? From the ivory tower to inside the boardroom, the pressure campaign to regulate AI.

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For all the talk about AI, one of the burning questions is how the technology will affect the workforce. Today, we talk to the authors of one of the first empirical studies that looks at AI in the workplace.

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It's another Indicator Quiz episode! We bring a listener onto the show and test their econ knowledge. This time around, the quiz is all about the banking system and its recent troubles.

Are you interested in being a contestant on our next Indicator Quiz? Just email us your name and phone number at [email protected] and put "Indicator Quiz" in the subject line. You have until the end of the day, Monday (05/29), to enter.

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It's Indicators of the Week! We round up the economic indicators that caught our attention. On today's episode, we look at growing U.S. household debt, the shrinking sales of Home Depot and Montana's new TikTok ban.

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In the background of the debt ceiling fight between Congress and the Biden administration, we peek inside a little-known program created for citizens who want to help pay off the national debt. This special fund has been collecting donations from civic-minded Americans since the 1960s.

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Nobel-winning economist Robert Lucas Jr. died on Monday. His revolutionary theories transformed the field of macroeconomics. His influential "Lucas critique" argued economic policy must take into account people's decisions in reaction to the policy itself, and just as importantly, their expectations. Not only is he remembered as a brilliant mind, but a supportive colleague as well. On today's episode, we remember Robert Lucas and his legacy.

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The United States is unusual in that it has thousands of relatively small and specialized banks. Even after adjusting for population size, countries like Canada, the U.K., India and Brazil have far fewer banks. Today, we examine America's love affair with small banks and why having so many could be a double-edged sword.

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