Posted inNPR

Protesters want schools to divest from Israel. How would that work?

College campuses nationwide are erupting with protests against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza. A consistent theme among these actions: a call for university endowment “divestment.”

Today, we unpack what that means and how divestment would work. Plus, we hear from an expert who explains why divestment might not have the effect that many believe.

Related episodes:
Why Israel uses diaspora bonds (Apple / Spotify)
How much of your tax dollars are going to Israel and Ukraine (Apple / Spotify)

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

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Posted inBusiness, Stories

Taxing the final frontier

Launches by commercial space companies are becoming more frequent. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration licensed 117, an all-time high. But these spaceflight companies aren’t paying for all of the FAA’s services that they use.

Today, we explore why the government is looking to change that and dig into the larger debate over whether human activity in space is a public or private project.

Related episodes:
Economics in space
Planet Money goes to space
Space economics

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.

Posted inNPR

Why the EU is investigating China’s wind turbines

Europe wants clean energy, but it’s struggling to compete with the low cost of China’s green technology. The E.U. just announced it’s investigating the subsidies received by Chinese wind turbine suppliers, which play a part in those low costs.

On today’s episode, we speak with Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, about how the E.U. is trying to build and maintain a competitive green tech industry in the face of low-price Chinese imports. And we ask how the U.S.’s climate industrial policy fits into all this action.

Related Episodes:
The surprising leader in EVs (Apple / Spotify)
Industrial policy, the debate! (Apple / Spotify)
Why offshore wind is facing headwinds (Apple / 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.

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