From the BBC World Service: Record-breaking floods across Pakistan are estimated to have washed away 45% of the nation's croplands and with resources on the ground in short supply, delivering aid is a mammoth task. Australia's government is moving quickly to try to address a chronic worker shortage that's left …
California’s online privacy bill for kids would force tech companies to
redesign services
Sept. 2, 2022
California's Legislature passed the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act this week. The bill would add website design and age verification requirements for apps and sites likely to be used by kids under the age of 18. Marketplace's Kimberly Adams speaks with Jen King, a privacy and data policy fellow at Stanford’s …
Hit the dark place sting, we're discussing some news stories that got our shells feeling a little hollow. First, residents of Jackson, Mississippi, have no clean water. Though help may be finally on the way, we still have questions. Also, a new survey shows just how devastating the pandemic was …
There's promise and peril on the For You page. On today's show, we'll look at how companies cash in or miss out on the big TikTok trends — and why some of those viral fads aren't as spontaneous as they look. But first: the dust-up over chip exports to China, …
First, Diane Swonk of KPMG joins us for today's talk about what the markets are doing in the wake of new unemployment data. The Biden administration's restrictions on computer chip sales to China and Russia have put a Silicon Valley chipmaker in a bind. The BBC reports on how the …
But first, Oxfam America put together a list of the best (and worst) states for workers to live in, and there are a few things that link the worst states together. We talk to senior economics contributor Chris Farrell about the economic lessons one can take from the Rolling Stones.
From the BBC World Service: Australia's government is holding a two-day summit in Canberra with business groups and trade unions to figure out what to do about a lack of workers for some jobs. Also, the International Monetary Fund approved a $1.2 billion loan for Sri Lanka to prevent an …
This week, NASA postponed a highly anticipated rocket launch after discovering an issue with one of the engines. It delayed a key stage of the space agency's Artemis missions, which aim to eventually establish a long-term human presence on the moon's surface and begin building a lunar economy. Part of …
Congress hasn’t approved new COVID funding for about a year and a half, and there’s not a whole lot of money left. With the FDA approving new boosters today, we'll look at what happens when the cash runs out. Plus: A new way to track employment, a portrait of precarity …
Student loan relief is here. But (and this is so awkward), so is inflation, still. One of our listeners wants to know whether the government's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt will make inflation worse. Plus, we'll take your questions on electric cars, credit scores and …
Susan Schmidt checks in with us for our discussion about market activity as the ADP jobs report numbers emerge. Some states still plan on taxing canceled student loan debt. We look into where gig workers fit in with this constantly reshaping economy.
Today, ADP Research Institute and Stanford Economy Lab releases what they say is more detailed employment data. We talk about what it's like to form a startup under the current economic conditions.
From the BBC World Service: Japan's defense ministry has requested a record $40 billion for its next budget, even though the country can't have an active military under its pacifist constitution after losing World War II. Plus, Russia has again cut off gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline …
If you're listening to or have already listened to the beginning of this episode, you probably noticed that the voice introducing Kimberly Adams sounded a bit off, right? That's because it's an audio "deepfake," and it was created by Yisroel Mirsky at the Offensive AI Research Lab through a process …
In the current inflation-whipped economy, it can feel like everything is going up. But a figure economists didn't expect to increase was job openings. Today, we'll dig into what that means for the labor market as the central bank tries to tap the brakes on the economy. Later, Russian pipeline …
American workers are becoming less productive, which means we're producing fewer widgets per hour worked. The data shows there's been drops in productivity for two back-to-back [quarters](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm). But the recent slowdown isn't anything new. While productivity did [spike ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/18/us-productivity- boom/)momentarily last year, it's actually been slowing for more than a …
First, reports on consumer confidence and jobs emerged today, offering up a clearer picture on what's been a weird economy thus far. We delve into the Jones Act and its role in heating oil shortages. The BBC reports on the arrival of a grain ship in time to aid drought-ridden …
The FTC has zeroed in on a company that sells geolocation data, adding more fuel to the discussion about data privacy. Speaking of being watched, some companies are using software to remotely track worker productivity.
From the BBC World Service: The MV Commander has docked in the Port of Djibouti and the wheat on board will be packaged and transported by road to neighboring Ethiopia, which is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years. Plus, Pakistan's prime minister Shehbaz Sharif says a $1.1 billion IMF …
The pulp and paper industry is ranked the fourth-biggest contributor to global warming among manufacturing sectors in the United States. That’s not just because it destroys a large number of trees that would otherwise be capturing huge amounts of carbon. The whole cycle of felling trees, transporting them and using …