16. Prop Money

The Economics of Everyday Things

Freakonomics Network

Business

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Who makes the stacks of fake cash used in movies — and how do they stay clear of counterfeit law? Zachary Crockett follows the fake money. This episode was originally published on September 3rd, 2023.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Who's that in your head?
0:05.0	Oh, hell no.
0:07.0	Lady, you listen to me right now.
0:09.0	You put that bomb down and turn out!
0:10.0	Cutter, we have to jump.
0:12.0	You crazy, man, ain't jumping!
0:13.0	Come on!
0:14.0	Use you a jacket!
0:15.0	Turn that bomb off,
0:16.0	and turn that bomb off there!
0:18.0	Crazy hair!
0:19.0	You're hearing a scene from the 2001 action comedy Rush Hour 2.
0:28.3	In this climactic moment, two detectives, played by Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, narrowly escape a bomb explosion at a casino.
0:36.8	As they descend to safety on a makeshift zip line,
0:40.0	around a billion dollars in cash rains down on the streets below.
0:48.2	The sequence was filmed at a Las Vegas hotel in late 2000.
0:53.4	At the shoot, everything went according to plan.
0:56.5	But in the following weeks, something strange happened.
1:00.8	Some of the fake prop money the film had used
1:03.5	began to show up at local businesses.
1:06.9	The wind caught some of the money,
1:08.3	and people grabbed what was the equivalent of, you know, thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
	...

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