# Planet Money podcast

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/planet-money/

7 people recommended Planet Money podcast in Hacker News comments and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 12 months, in 8 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free NPR podcast explaining economics through short episodes on specific news and history topics. Two critics find it narrow and say quality has slipped.

Summary written by Claude from 9 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong episodes on specific topics (4 comments in the sample): "There was a good Planet Money episode which went into what was behind all of this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46930820)) "excellent Planet Money episode on how trading onion futures got banned in the 50s" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49764037)) "There was a great episode of the Planet Money podcast a few weeks back" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48788128))
- Clear economics explainers (2 comments in the sample): "Pretty nice wide Econ 101 overview of how the economy works from a US point of view." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912283)) "this is a good economics podcast in general" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50297324))

## Other podcasts people recommend

- [Dwarkesh Podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dwarkesh-podcast/): 27 recommend, 2 mixed, 8 criticize
- [Acquired podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/acquired-podcast/): 24 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize
- [Oxide and Friends](https://hackerapproved.com/p/oxide-and-friends-podcast/): 19 recommend, 4 mixed, 2 criticize
- [Behind the Bastards podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/behind-the-bastards-podcast/): 16 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Planet Money podcast", https://hackerapproved.com/p/planet-money/ (7 recommend, 0 mixed, 2 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.