meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Indicator from Planet Money

What can we learn from the year's most popular econ terms?

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 β€’ 9.5K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 7 December 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2021, the most popular term on Investopedia was "capital gains tax." In 2022, it was "poison pill." These top terms help capture the economic zeitgeist of their year. So... what was it in 2023?

Today, Investopedia's editor-in-chief β€” and a poet β€” help us make sense of what the website's top ten terms of the year tell us about our collective economic psyche.

RELATED
When mortgage rates are too low to give up (Apple Podcasts/Spotify)

Hedonic adjustment: how to measure pleasure (Apple Podcasts/Spotify)

The inverted yield curve is screaming RECESSION (Apple Podcasts/Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by
Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

NPR.

0:02.0

This is the

0:11.0

This is the indicator for planet money. This is the indicator for planet Money. I'm Adrian Ma.

0:14.0

And I'm Waylon Wong.

0:15.0

Adrian, did you learn any new economic terms in the last year or so?

0:20.0

Oh, uh, yeah. So many. Like, I think one of my favorites was Hedonic adjustment.

0:26.1

It's this term for how economists account for improvements

0:29.7

and the quality of stuff over time.

0:31.4

I thought that was pretty cool. That's a fun one and we did

0:34.8

a story about mortgage lock-in. That's when people stay in their current homes

0:39.0

because they don't want to give up their low mortgage rates. Another word to casually sprinkle at your next dinner

0:44.9

party?

0:45.9

Yeah, I guess depending on the kind of dinner parties that you attend.

0:49.9

As you can tell, we love beefing up on our econ vocab around here, which makes us kindred spirits,

0:55.9

you could say, with Caleb Silver.

0:58.1

Caleb is editor-in-chief of Investopedia, a site that you have maybe visited before.

1:03.0

We have about 14,000 definitions on our site.

1:07.0

You've looked at all the words, I assume.

1:09.0

Which one's your favorite?

1:10.0

I love compounding because compounding is the magic in investing.

1:14.0

And over at Investopedia headquarters right now is one of their most thrilling annual events,

1:19.6

the unveiling of their top 10 terms of the year.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

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.

Copyright Β© Tapesearch 2026.