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cover of episode Summer School 8: Big ideas and life lessons from Marx, Keynes and Smith and more

Summer School 8: Big ideas and life lessons from Marx, Keynes and Smith and more

2024/8/28
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Planet Money

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The episode revisits a 2018 Planet Money Indicator segment exploring the impact of economics over the past 50 years. While there's been progress in areas like poverty reduction, child mortality, and food security, these gains have come at the cost of environmental damage and biodiversity loss.
  • Global poverty has decreased from over 60% to under 10% in the last 50 years.
  • Child mortality rates have significantly improved, though they remain unacceptably high.
  • Undernourishment has decreased by two-thirds due to advancements in agriculture.
  • The improvements in living standards have come at the expense of increased carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.

Shownotes Transcript

Take the 2024 Planet Money Summer School Quiz here to earn your personalized diploma!)Find all the episodes from this season of Summer School here). And past seasons here). And follow along on TikTok here for video Summer School). We are assembled here on the lawn of Planet Money University for the greatest graduation in history – because it features the greatest economic minds in history. We'll hear from Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and some surprising guests as they teach us a little bit more economics, and offer a lot of life advice. But first, we have to wrap up our (somewhat) complete economic history of the world. We'll catch up on the last fifty years or so of human achievement and ask ourselves, has economics made life better for us all? *This series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Audrey Dilling. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Sofia Shchukina. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts) or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney).Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts), Spotify), the NPR app) or anywhere you get podcasts.Find more Planet Money: Facebook) / Instagram) / TikTok) / Our weekly Newsletter).*Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)