Jacob Goldstein
Jacob Goldstein is an NPR correspondent and co-host of the Planet Money podcast. He is the author of the book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing.
Goldstein's interest in technology and the changing nature of work has led him to stories on UPS, the Luddites and the history of light. His aversion to paying retail has led him to stories on Costco, Spirit Airlines and index funds.
He also contributed to the Planet Money T-shirt and oil projects, and to an episode of This American Life that asked: What is money? Ira Glass called it "the most stoner question" ever posed on the show.
Before coming to NPR, Goldstein was a staff writer at the Wall Street Journal, the Miami Herald, and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. He has also written for the New York Times Magazine. He has a bachelor's degree in English from Stanford and a master's in journalism from Columbia.
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The MacArthur Foundation wants to give away $100 million to a single project. This is part of a growing belief in the philanthropy world that piecemeal solutions aren't as effective as huge bets might be. But bigger bets can be risky.
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A large spice company recently started putting less pepper in its tins — and leaving empty space at the top of the tin. There's a technical term for that empty space: "non-functional slack fill."
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Our "Planet Money" team introduces us to a delightfully precise man who helped design the 1040 tax form.
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Many of the lines on tax forms like the 1040 seem oddly specific. Some are for farmers, some for divorcees, some for servicemen and women. Behind each of those we can see the process that shapes our tax code. NPR looks at one line — for performing artists — and how it came to be.
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If Greece isn't a good place to do business anymore, then businesses will leave. When solid businesses close up or leave, then Greece becomes even worse for the remaining firms.
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A former accountant convicted of insider trading tells his story to our "Planet Money" podcast team: what he did, how he did it and why. Though he's still struggling with that last one.
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On any day, a food bank could end up with heaps of pasta sauce, but no pasta. To solve the problem, a network of food banks created a currency of fake money and embraced trade.
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United Auto Workers has ratified a new contract with Fiat-Chrysler. It was settled across a conference table, in a time-frame agreeable to both parties. But, it hasn't always been that way.
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Take every standard lesson about how to sell stuff to people and then break all the rules. That's the secret to some of the nation's biggest retail chains.
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On Sunday, the people of Greece will vote on their country's future. What happens when voters are asked to choose between two options that could send their country down two very different paths?