Economy

What the recently approved bankruptcy deal means for Puerto Rico

5:26pm January 21, 2022

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Natalie Jaresko, executive director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, about the territory's recently approved bankruptcy deal.

What a ban from the global messaging system for banks would mean for Russia

5:11pm January 21, 2022

As Russia places troops on the Ukrainian border, there's a financial nuclear weapon that Europe and the U.S. can use: ban Russia from the system most banks use to transfer money internationally.

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The 'Great Resignation' is giving workers more power, Labor Secretary Walsh says

4:27pm January 21, 2022

NPR'S Ailsa Chang talks with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh about the underlying causes of the "Great Resignation" and what he learned this past year from conversations with Americans across the country.

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Student loan payments resume in May. Here are 7 ways to prepare

4:15pm January 21, 2022

by Elissa Nadworny

First things first: Get acquainted (or reacquainted) with your loans. And don't count on blanket loan forgiveness.

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A woman drinks an alcohol-free beer during the annual "Fete de la Musique" (music day), in the courtyard of the Elysee Palace in Paris in 2018.

Non-alcoholic beers are finally good (and they're not just for Dry January)

2:06pm January 21, 2022

by Bill Chappell

Craft beer's emphasis on strong flavors has reinvented non-alcoholic beer, bringing better choices than ever to people who want new options.

Children draw on top of a canceled check prop during a rally in favor of the child tax credit in front of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 13, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

Families are in distress after the first month without the expanded child tax credit

10:45am January 21, 2022

by Deepa Shivaram

January is the first month since July 2021 that more than 36 million families in the U.S. did not receive money from the expanded child tax credit program. For some, the consequences are already dire.

New homes under construction in Mebane, N.C., earlier this month. A historic shortage of homes for sale has been pushing prices sharply higher. So builders are trying to ramp up projects.

Home prices rose faster than ever in 2021. The typical home gained $50,000 in value

2:47pm January 20, 2022

by Chris Arnold

For first time homebuyers it was one of the hardest years ever to afford a house. But homeowners saw tremendous gains in housing wealth.

Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World, by Peter S. Goodman

'Davos Man' is an angry, powerful look at economic inequality

11:40am January 20, 2022

by Michael Schaub

New York Times writer Peter S. Goodman does not like Davos Man. At all. And his new book does an excellent job explaining why — focusing on the rich getting richer as the COVID-19 pandemic raged.

A Biden "I did that!" sticker spotted in the wild.

The Movement To Stick Inflation Blame On Biden

6:30am January 18, 2022

by Greg Rosalsky

It's a bad time to be a world leader. COVID did that.

Economy

Oxfam report focuses on the wealth gap, which widened during the pandemic

6:16am January 18, 2022

NPR's A Martinez talks with Abby Maxman, CEO and president of Oxfam America, about the organization's latest report on wealth inequality, and how that gap has increased during the pandemic.