Slate Money – "Planet Money In Book Form!" (Feb 21, 2026)

Main Theme & Purpose

This special crossover episode of Slate Money brings together host Felix Salmon and his co-hosts Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spiers with Alex Mayyasi from Planet Money, celebrating and discussing Planet Money’s new book: "Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life". The conversation explores key chapters and economic case studies from the book—touching on protectionism (with a focus on Argentina), the role of market design, and the hidden pitfalls of U.S. credit card interchange fees. The tone is lively, accessible, and thought-provoking, with digressions into wine, Soylent, and K-pop as economic exports.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Planet Money in Book Form: Why Now? (00:25–02:37)

• Alex Mayyasi introduces the new book as "a guide to the economic forces that shape your life," grounded in the narrative style of the Planet Money podcast and built collaboratively with the entire team.
• The team selected engaging, illustrative stories from over a decade of reporting on the global economy.

Notable Quote:

“This is the only book you ever need to read to understand the economic forces that shape your life.”
—Felix Salmon (01:05)

2. Protectionism in Argentina: The Blackberry Factory Experiment (03:32–12:43)

Christina Fernandez de Kirchner & Import Substitution

• Felix and Alex discuss Kirchner’s presidency and her protectionist strategy of forcing international firms to manufacture in Argentina rather than rely on imports.
• The book focuses on BlackBerry’s coerced production in Tierra del Fuego, a remote, underdeveloped region, representing a grand experiment in reversing globalization.

Notable Moments:

• The logistical absurdity: engineers needing to store equipment at home due to lack of infrastructure (06:44).
• Kirchner and politicians celebrating the first "Made in Argentina" BlackBerries, which turned out to be costly and technologically outdated.

Why It Didn’t Work

• The factory produced devices at a higher cost and lower quality—consumers turned to the black market for better imports.
• Comparative advantage and global competition made Argentina’s forced manufacturing unsustainable.
• Government resources and talent were diverted from sectors where Argentina actually had competitive strength.

Discussion Highlights:

• Comparisons with Trump and U.S. trade policy: The seduction of "restoring manufacturing" is tempting for many politicians, but scale and outcomes differ sharply between the U.S. and smaller economies.
• Felix’s counterpoint: What should countries do if their comparative advantages do little to benefit the masses?

Memorable Exchange:

“There’s a reason a lot of these things were being produced elsewhere and then imported to Argentina. It was cheaper to do. So. That was the logic of comparative advantage.”
—Alex Mayyasi (08:45)

3. Government Intervention, Comparative Advantage, and Picking Winners (12:43–22:55)

• The panel dissects the perennial debate: Can governments successfully develop new industries or move up the value chain?
• Case studies: Korea and K-pop, Taiwan and microchips; the U.S.’s early industrial policy under Alexander Hamilton.
• Economist skepticism: Protecting industries can breed inefficiency and dependence.
• Pragmatic view: Sometimes, picking winners works—particularly in East Asia—but often only with substantial government involvement, risk tolerance, and long-term vision.

Notable Quote:

“A lot of economists are uncomfortable with the idea of the government trying to pick winners… But I agree with you that just saying everyone should do their comparative advantage... can leave a lot of countries left in a niche that does not produce great jobs.”
—Alex Mayyasi (19:52)

4. Market Design: When Free Markets Don’t Work (25:41–32:48)

• Introduces market design, a branch of economics focusing on how to structure markets when laissez-faire principles fail.
  • Examples:
    • Matching organ donors to recipients (algorithmic “kidney exchanges”).
    • FCC spectrum auctions, which used clever incentives for both buyers and sellers, revolutionizing allocation and even impacting streaming music (28:41).
• The big picture: Every market has designers—whether explicitly via policymakers, or implicitly through neglected legislation or corporate power.

Memorable Explanation:

“Every market has a designer. And you can pretend that it’s just the laissez faire, the market is doing its thing, but there are always rules.”
—Alex Mayyasi (33:57)

5. U.S. Credit Card Interchange Fees: The Reverse Robin Hood? (32:48–44:27)

• Problem: Unlike Europe, U.S. law does not cap credit card “swipe fees,” so companies compete to offer bigger rewards, funded by higher merchant fees, which are then often passed on to all consumers via higher prices.
• The system disproportionately benefits affluent cardholders, while lower-income, cash or debit users pay more.
• Regulatory inaction (or non-action) as de facto market design.
• Debated redistribution: Whether the system actually redistributes money from poor to rich, or merely enriches banks and card networks.

Notable Quote:

“Credit cards...are actively taking money from poor people and redistributing them to rich people. Not in such great amounts that, like, people will get out the guillotine, but in meaningful amounts.”
—Alex Mayyasi (37:18)

• Felix challenges whether rewards seekers (like himself) really get back more than they pay in fees—arguing banks are the real winners.

Memorable moment:

“Credit cards as a tax on every transaction, that every transaction is a little higher than it needs to be.”
—Alex Mayyasi (41:31)

6. Numbers Round: Fun With Economic Facts and Trends (44:27–50:54)

Each host & guest shares a number, often related to themes in the book:

• Elizabeth: 20 — the pounds lost by a content creator on "boy kibble," a riff on gendered food trends.
• Emily: $26.24 — the national average hourly rate for babysitting one child in the U.S. (up 5% YoY), illustrated as a real-life case of Baumol’s cost disease.
  • “If you want to understand why the price of babysitting is higher than inflation, you should read Alex’s book.” (46:53)
• Felix: 2,160 — square footage of two Chagall murals at the Met Opera, being sold to cover deficit—exploring how high culture falls victim to the same economic dynamics.
• Alex: 7 out of 450,000 — number of non-professional investors who outperformed the market in an “American Idol for investing” contest, reinforcing the difficulty of stock-picking.
  • “Just remember that number, 7 out of 450,000 was roughly the level of success…” (50:45)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Argentina, like, prices just went up, inflation went up. There were all these jobs to manufacture things that weren’t being bought. So obviously that was not sustainable.”
  —Alex Mayyasi (08:45)

• “It’s very tempting for any political leader… to say, can I get the good parts of globalization? Can I sell to foreign markets but protect people in my country?”
  —Alex Mayyasi (12:59)

• “I really struggle to think of a single country in Latin America that has benefited from globalization.”
  —Felix Salmon (18:01)

• “Every market has a designer.”
  —Alex Mayyasi (33:57)

• “Credit cards… as a tax on every transaction.”
  —Alex Mayyasi (41:31)

Tone & Style

• Conversational, anecdote-driven, and accessible, blending incisive economics with real-world color and wit.
• The hosts and guest challenge each other, acknowledge nuance, and often undercut economic orthodoxy with practical realities.
• Occasional tangents (wine, Soylent, K-pop) serve as windows into how economic forces touch daily life.

Recommended Segments by Timestamp

• Intro & Book Theme: 00:25–02:37
• Argentina Protectionism Deep-Dive: 03:32–12:43
• Comparative Advantage & Picking Winners: 12:43–22:55
• Market Design & Spectrum Auctions: 25:41–32:48
• Credit Card Interchange Fees: 32:48–44:27
• Numbers Round: 44:27–50:54

Summary Takeaway

Through lively discussion and sharp, story-driven case studies from economics, the episode invites listeners to question who designs our markets, who truly benefits from interventions or inaction—and how even basic transactions (from buying a coffee to choosing a babysitter) are shaped by invisible but powerful economic forces. The new Planet Money book is pitched as an accessible, comprehensive (yet entertaining) entry point to understanding these forces, whether you’re a policy wonk or just want to know why your opera tickets cost so much.