Economics explains everything from your mortgage rate to global trade wars. These podcasts make the discipline accessible, applying economic thinking to the questions that actually matter.
Planet Money is the most brilliantly produced economics podcast in existence — NPR's ability to find the human story inside an abstract economic concept and tell it with narrative craft makes every episode feel like a miniature documentary. The show has an extraordinary ability to make listeners genuinely understand things they thought were inaccessible — the stock market, derivatives, central banking — through stories that stick.
Odd Lots from Bloomberg is the most expert-facing economics podcast on this list — Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway interview the economists, traders, and policymakers who actually move markets, focusing on the mechanisms behind financial phenomena rather than just the outcomes. For serious macro investors and economics enthusiasts, the quality of the analytical conversation is unmatched.
Freakonomics Radio applies economic thinking to questions most economists wouldn't touch — the unintended consequences of good intentions, the hidden economics of everyday life, and the surprising data behind human behavior. Steven Dubner's journalism and the Levitt-Dubner approach to incentive analysis has made economics accessible to tens of millions of people who would never read an economics paper.
EconTalk with Russ Roberts is the most academically rigorous economics podcast available — Roberts is an economist who interviews other economists, and the conversations treat ideas with the seriousness they deserve. The show covers classical liberalism, Austrian economics, and heterodox perspectives alongside mainstream theory, giving it an intellectual range that most economics content lacks.
Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam applies behavioral economics and psychology to explain why people make irrational economic decisions — why we overpay for things, why we can't save, why we're predictably wrong about risk. The show is essential economics education that doesn't announce itself as such.
Macro Voices covers global macroeconomic trends, interest rates, commodities, and currency markets with the depth that institutional investors and sophisticated traders require. The guests are often hedge fund managers and macro analysts who rarely speak publicly, making the show an unusual window into serious macro thinking.
Bloomberg Briefing provides concise daily economic and market context from the Bloomberg newsroom — efficient and authoritative, it's the best daily anchor for listeners who need to stay oriented on economic conditions without dedicating an hour to a long-form show.
The Wall Street Journal's economics coverage in podcast form covers the economic forces shaping business decisions, policy debates, and market conditions with the authority of one of the world's most trusted financial news organizations. The show is particularly strong on policy analysis and the economic implications of regulatory changes.
Money Talks from The Economist brings the publication's rigorous economic analysis and global perspective to a weekly podcast that covers the economic stories that matter for investors, policymakers, and engaged citizens. The Economist's analytical framework and commitment to evidence makes the show one of the most intellectually honest economics podcasts available.
Intelligence Squared produces structured debates on economic and policy questions with experts on multiple sides — the format makes it one of the most intellectually honest ways to engage with contested economic questions. For listeners who want to actually understand why serious people disagree about economic policy, the debate format is uniquely effective.
Planet Money, Freakonomics Radio, and Hidden Brain are the most accessible — they use storytelling and behavioral science to explain economic concepts without requiring an economics background.
Odd Lots, Macro Voices, and Bloomberg Briefing cover macro policy, interest rates, inflation, and global markets with the depth that financial professionals and serious investors need.
EconTalk with Russ Roberts is the most academically rigorous show, covering economic ideas from first principles with guests who are often the economists who developed the theories.