Bryant Urstadt
Bryant Urstadt is the editor of Planet Money, NPR's podcast about economics. Planet Money specializes in taking complicated subjects, finding the people at the center of them, and turning their stories into entertaining narratives. He is part of the team which won a Peabody for reporting on the fake bank accounts scandal at Wells Fargo.
Before joining Planet Money, he was the features editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, which also specialized in taking complicated subjects, finding the people at the center of them, and turning their stories into entertaining narratives. There, he was part of a group which won numerous National Magazine Awards, for general excellence, as well as for single-issue topics like coding, and the financial crisis. He also oversaw online features, and helped build the Businessweek web site.
Before that, he was a full-time writer, and wrote for magazines like New York, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Harpers, Outside, Businessweek, and many other places, covering everything from hockey to derivatives.
And before that, he was an NPR listener who sent checks to his local member station.
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The Smoot Hawley Tariffs were a debacle that helped plunge America into the Great Depression. What can we learn from them? Today on the show, we tell the nearly 100-year-old story of Smoot and Hawley, that explains why Congress decided to delegate tariff power to the executive branch in the first place. It's a story that weaves in wool, humble buckwheat, tiny little goldfish, and even Ferris Bueller... Anyone? Anyone? It's also what set the stage for the Trump tariffs. President-elect Donald Trump enacted a heap of import taxes in his first term, in particular on goods from China. President Biden's administration largely kept those tariffs in place, and levied new tariffs as well, on electric vehicles and solar panels. And now, as Trump's second presidency is on the horizon, he has promised even more tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China, and even on all imports across the board. And now, as Trump's second presidency is on the horizon, he has promised even more tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China, and even on all imports across the board. We update this classic episode about the Smoot Hawley Tariffs, and review the impact of more recent efforts from Trump and Biden alike. Help support Planet Money by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. You get bonus episodes! -
Back in the 90s, the federal government ran a bold experiment, giving people vouchers to move out of high-poverty neighborhoods into low-poverty ones. They wanted to test if housing policy could be hope – whether an address change alone could improve jobs, earnings and education. The answer to that seems obvious. But it did not at all turn out as they expected. Years later, when new researchers went back to the data on this experiment, they stumbled on something big. Something that is changing housing policy across the country today. Today's episode was originally hosted by Karen Duffin, produced by Aviva DeKornfeld, and edited by Bryant Urstadt. The update was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk, produced by Sean Saldana and fact checked by Sierra Juarez. Our supervising executive producer is Alex Goldmark.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. -
At Stanford University, an assignment for a class on markets led to an experiment using economic thinking to match undergrads together romantically. It's a great way to understand many other markets.
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Prices for materials like copper, soybeans and oil have been rising to the point that some economists are talking about a new 'supercycle' — an event in which prices go high and stay high for years.
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The Netflix documentary is one of the most honest and interesting looks at trade between China and the U.S.
