The new economic arms race

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Iran’s weaponization of the Strait of Hormuz is the perfect example of how modern warfare is increasingly waged, not only with drones and bombs, but also through the weaponization of economic choke points.

Today on the show, we talk to author Edward Fishman, who says the U.S. innovated a new kind of economic warfare a couple of decades ago, and that has sparked a new economic arms race.

Edward Fishman’s book is “Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare”.

The Indicator has a weekly newsletter! Be among the first to sign up now: npr.org/indicatornewsletter

Related episodes:
Think the oil shock is bad in the US? Look here
Fixing the oil crisis might not fix the Persian Gulf
How are drivers riding out the gas crisis?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're used to the indicator being in your ears.
0:04.3	Well, now we are in your inbox.
0:07.0	Every Friday morning, we're releasing a brand-new newsletter.
0:10.1	We let you in on what we think matters in the news,
0:12.7	answer your listener questions,
0:14.4	and tell you what we're doing outside of work.
0:17.1	Sign up now. We want your feedback.
0:19.0	NPR.org slash indicator newsletter.
0:25.6	NPR.
0:26.3	NPR.
0:35.9	This is the indicator from Planet Money.
0:37.9	I'm Adrienne Ma.
0:38.9	And I'm Julia Ritchie.
0:40.3	Okay, Adrian, pop quiz.
0:41.9	Okay.
0:42.3	This is fill in the blank.
0:43.8	Straight of blank.
0:45.8	Hors shoes.
0:48.4	No, of course, I meant to say Hormuz, the straight of Hormuz.
0:51.9	Yes, yes.
0:52.6	Ding, ding.
0:53.5	The answer is straight of Hormuz. Who, yes, ding, ding. The answer is Strait of Hormuz.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.