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Economics
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Cost-Benefit Analysis
Fighting Drought With an Ancient Practice: Harvesting the Rain
Ancient methods of collecting and storing rainwater are being used to address severe drought today.
11:12
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Our Appetite for Beef Is Growing. So Are Climate Worries.
Scientists warn that to slow climate change, we need to change how we farm and what we eat.
03:59
Meatless Burgers Are on Trend. Eating to Save the World Has a Long History.
Plant-based meats may be high tech, but the ideas behind them have been around for decades.
13:38
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Horses: Wild, But Not Free
There are now so many wild horses on public land – nearly 100,000 – that they have become caught in a battle between the government, ranchers and environmentalists.
08:40
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From Y2K to 2038, Lessons Learned from First Computer Crisis
The Y2K bug threatened to wipe out computers and disrupt modern society at the end of the 20th century. We all remember the doomsday hype, but what really happened?
09:23
Future of Home
Guatemalan homesteaders and a Michigan contractor are riding a wave that could change how our lives are wired.
08:56
Future of Food
A small South Dakota farm holds lessons for feeding a crowded and less predictable world.
07:38
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Activating a Generation: From Live Aid to the Ice Bucket Challenge
Thirty years after “Live Aid” changed the face of charity fundraising, clicktivism has taken center stage. If you share, re-tweet and like, are you making the world a better place?
10:38
Runaway Plane
For decades the United States has been on a quest to perfect stealth technology, but development of the F-35 fighter jet shows just how complicated dreams can become.
08:25
Freeing Willy
In the wake of the 1993 hit movie Free Willy, activists and fans campaigned to release the movie’s star – a captive killer whale named Keiko – and launched a story Hollywood couldn’t invent.
11:41
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Labor Markets and Competition
Labor Union Activism Is on the Rise, Recalling the Great Depression
Spurred by the pandemic, new groups of workers are pushing to form unions in activism not seen since the 1930s.
08:13
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Why History Urges Caution on Immunity Testing
After past outbreaks, workers with proof of antibodies were in demand. But history urges caution.
07:13
Covid-19 Changed the Way We Watch Movies. The 1918 Pandemic Set the Stage.
The 1918 flu pandemic helped to usher in the Hollywood studio system. Could Covid-19 transform the industry?
04:36
The Birth of Free Agency
The drama of modern free agency has become as much a part of professional sports as the games themselves. But it wasn’t always that way. Today’s free agents owe a big debt of gratitude to Curt Flood.
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Future of Aging
Across the globe, more and more people are living longer lives and that’s redefining what it means to be over 65, and what the future might mean for retirement.
09:49
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Future of College
Online learning is indeed disrupting college as we know it – but not in the way you might think.
08:53
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The NFL Draft 20 Years After Manning-Leaf: How Teams Try to Pick a Winner
After the 1998 NFL draft produced one of the greatest busts in history, what have we learned about the science of evaluating human talent – on and off the field?
12:38
Future of Work
A remote Oregon mountainside offers a window into the workplace of the future.
08:32
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Women, Work and the Modern American Family
The mommy wars were billed as the nastiest fight in American parenting, and actually fueled by a decades-old blunder.
10:17
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Policy, Law and Regulation
The 2008 Financial Crisis Explained: Housing Bubble to Bailout
Risky loans, regulatory gaps, and Wall Street practices fueled the 2008 financial crisis and led to the Great Recession.
10:26
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This 1920s Treasury Secretary Helped Big Business Drive the Economy
The economic vision of American industrialist Andrew Mellon loomed large over the boom and bust of the 1920s.
05:02
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Who Controls the Purse? Presidential Power and the Fight Over Spending
The Trump administration is reviving a controversial budget tactic, putting a Nixon-era fight over presidential power and congressional authority back in the headlines.
11:25
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How the Federal School Lunch Program Became a Spicy Political Debate
A 1940s child nutrition program has been a subject of debate for decades, reflecting shifting political priorities.
09:37
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Amazon Rainforest Defenders Confront Violence, Encroachment and Politics
Debates over development in the world’s largest rainforest have led to deadly conflicts, threats to its indigenous people and harm to the global atmosphere.
08:28
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A New Housing Program to Fight Poverty Has an Unexpected History
Some cities are trying to help poor children succeed by having their families move to middle-income, so-called “opportunity areas” – an idea that was once politically impossible.
12:45
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Facing Eviction
Since the summer of 2020, we’ve documented the impact of the pandemic on housing and evictions. We followed tenants, landlords, lawyers, judges, sheriffs and social workers across the U.S. who were affected.
53:16
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How the Cold War Arms Race Fueled a Sprint to the Moon
After the Soviet Union sent the first human safely into orbit, the U.S. government doubled down on its effort to win the race to the moon.
06:49
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Burden of Richmond Evictions Weighs Heaviest in Black Neighborhoods
An eviction moratorium has slowed filings in cities like Richmond, but it hasn’t stopped them, and Black tenants are at highest risk.
06:49
How Decades of Housing Discrimination Hurts Fresno in the Pandemic
Decades of discrimination in Fresno laid the groundwork for a housing crisis today.
05:47
Health Risks of Vaping: Lessons From the Battle With Big Tobacco
Like cigarette manufacturers decades ago, e-cigarette makers have pitched their products as fun and safe. But nobody knows what the risks are.
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New York Tenants Are Organizing Against Evictions, as They Did in the Great Depression
Activists concerned about pandemic-related homelessness are seeking rent relief. In the 1930s, tenants banded together against evictions.
06:25
Tenants Facing Eviction Over Covid-19 Look to a 1970s Solution
An idea from a tenant rebellion in the 70s could help renters facing eviction.
10:57
Working Sick During Covid: What We Learned from Swine Flu
‘Stay home if you’re sick’ is time-tested advice. But not all workers can afford it.
06:44
Space Law: The Next Generation
An international treaty laid out the basics of space law in 1967. But without a lot of case history to go on, lawyers today have looked to maritime law and Arctic exploration as they lay the groundwork for how space will be governed.
06:01
Future of Gaming
As gaming becomes the dominant form of entertainment this century, game developers increasingly track player behavior to tailor experiences that will keep people playing longer and spending more money.
11:39
For Private Prisons, Detaining Immigrants Is Big Business
An inmate population surge in the 1980s led to the growth of for-profit prisons. Today, despite their mixed record, private prison companies are overseeing the vast majority of undocumented migrants.
10:01
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Future of Cities
In the latest installment of our “What Happens Next” series examining the future of society, we visit Medellín, Colombia—a city that has reinvented itself over the past few decades, turning its violent past into a sustainable future by transforming its slums.
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A Trusted Pill Turned Deadly. How Tylenol Made a Comeback
How do some companies regain public trust after something goes seriously wrong, while others fail? A look at how Tylenol responded after someone spiked its pills with poison in the 1980s sheds some light.
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Future of Money
Future of Money, the first in a 5-part series, looks at what ancient stones on a tiny Pacific island can teach us about Bitcoin, blockchains and the future of money.
11:27
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Trump’s Medicaid Positioning Echoes the Controversial Welfare Reform of the 90s
During his campaign, Donald Trump vowed not to cut to entitlements, but then reversed himself saying he would, and additionally would turn more control over to the states.
03:13
Could You Patent the Sun?
Decades after Dr. Jonas Salk opposed patenting the polio vaccine, the pharmaceutical industry has changed. What does that mean for the development of innovative drugs and for people whose lives depend on them?
11:24
The Populist Politician and California’s Property Tax Revolt
In 1978, voters passed Proposition 13, lowering taxes for millions of California homeowners. Decades later, what has it meant for California?
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Life After Welfare
In 1996, welfare reform was signed into law, promising needy families a path out of poverty. This is the story of Tianna Gaines-Turner, a former welfare recipient, who still struggles to make ends meet.
01:52
Welfare and the Politics of Poverty
Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform was supposed to move needy families off government handouts and onto a path out of poverty. Years later, how has it turned out?
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E. Coli Outbreaks Changed Food Production, But How Safe Are We?
A 1993 E. coli outbreak linked to Jack in the Box hamburgers acted as a wake up call about the dangers of food-borne illness. Decades later, how far have we really come in terms of food safety?
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The Surprising Technological Revolution Launched by the Air Bag
How did cars become “computers on wheels,” so automated that some are about to start driving themselves? The story begins forty-five years ago with a quest to make cars safer and the battle over the air bag.
14:16
The Fly That Quarantined California and Pitted Environmentalists Against Farmers
In the summer of 1981, the Mediterranean fruit fly spread through California’s Santa Clara Valley, infesting backyard fruit trees and threatening the state’s $14 billion agricultural industry.
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The Minneapolis Bridge Collapse that Sounded the Alarm on US Infrastructure
At the height of rush hour on August 1, 2007 a bridge carrying eight lanes of I-35W traffic over the Mississippi River suddenly collapsed, sending cars and trucks plunging into the water below.
09:55
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Blackout: Understanding the US Power Grid’s Vulnerability from the 2003 Failure
In 2003, a blackout crippled areas of the U.S. and Canada, leaving some 50 million people in the dark. Years later, we are still grappling with concerns over the vulnerability of our power grid.
09:21
Hurricane Katrina’s Aftermath and Lessons in Dealing with Disaster
Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, and Louisiana’s troubled housing recovery has shaped the response to every major disaster since, including Hurricane Sandy.
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GMO Food Fears and the First Test Tube Tomato
In the 1990s, a bunch of gene jockeys brought the first genetically engineered food to market. The business crashed but biotech science has flourished far beyond the produce aisle.
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Supply, Demand and Markets
From Napster to Netflix: The History and Impact of Streaming Services
After Napster, many consumers got used to entertainment on demand. There was no turning back.
09:42
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Thalidomide: From Tragedy to Treatment
How a pill that led to drug safety guidelines became a case study for rising drug prices.
11:20
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Bliss Point: How Food Companies Make Us Crave Their Products
How did food companies get us to crave their products? They discovered the “bliss point.”
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