Planet Money

My students know that I love the radio. Many a spare half an hour can be whiled away with a podcast of The Bottom Line (which returns on Thursday/Saturday this week), or More or Less, or Peter Day’s World of Business. And the great thing about this form of learning is that it can overlap with other tasks – there’s no opportunity cost! Listen to a business/economics podcast whilst at the gym, going for a run, doing the washing-up, whatever…But whilst Radio 4 is well-scouted territory, but one students might not be so familiar with is NPR’s Planet Money. This show, from America’s public radio, is quite close in style to R4’s More or Less with a more of a business focus. 2 fifteen minute shows are podcasted a week.This edition is a great place to start.

Ostensibly, the three stories are about “price”, but as well as useful ideas for the AS modules, there’s loads of good content for BUSS3 and 4, on strategy and change. The first brief article wonders what will become of publishers as ebooks become increasingly popular, and speculates that unlike digital music, digital reading material can actually enhance the position of publishers. Sounds and links can be embedded in content, other books referred to in a text - or by the same author - are only a click away, and pricing can now be varied and rests more with the publisher than the retailers. Where all this leaves somewhere like Waterstone’s remains to be seen, but the book industry per se does not seem to be facing quite the same pressures as the music biz.

Secondly, one of the presenters speculates about the high price of Lego – or as the Americans annoying say, “Legos”. With no patent, or trademark, how does Lego stay ahead of new rivals like “Mega bloks”? There are some surprising bits of info concerning a high level of quality control, well-known ideas about branding and information on their strategy and diversification into movie tie-ins like Star Wars. The presenter’s gripes about the price of Lego inspired me to check, though – is it really so expensive? Via various Amazon sites, it turns out this box is £52.08 in the UK, and €62.57 in France (£52.63, about the same – as a trade economist would expect). But in the US it is priced at $45.89 (a mere £28.93). I guess the Lego brand is even more secure in Europe (who buys Mega Bloks anyway?!).

The last story is of a technology that seems to have been about to change the world for a year or two, but is still not quite there yet…. The 3D “printer”. I hope most readers will have heard of or seen these by now, but the potential disruption to markets is extraordinary. One interviewee even speculates about printing clothing – so no longer would you have to sort of fit into a size 12 or a 32-in waist; clothing can be in your size. Also on the horizon… human organs.

Planet Money, then, is another great source of info/enrichment to get you thinking about business issues. Recent editions include the surprisingly professional world of drug-peddling spam emails, the historic price of Coca-Cola, LeBron James’ pay, the list goes on...

So, for those that want to keep their finger on the pulse (which should be all of you), it’s another potential resource to start checking out, especially if BUSS4 is looming large in the summer. Good for a snow day!