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Planet Money Summer School: History : Planet Money Season 5 of summer school goes back in time to see how the systems that uplift and plague us came to be. New lessons every Wednesday until Labor Day.
Special Series

Planet Money Summer School: History

History 1: Money and the stone coin at the bottom of the sea
NPR

Planet Money Summer School

History 1: Money and the stone coin at the bottom of the sea

Planet Money Summer School is back for eight weeks. Join as we travel back in time to find the origins of our economic way of life. Today we ask surprisingly hard question: What is money? And where did it come from? We travel to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean for the answer. Then we'll visit France in the year 1714, where a man on the lam tries to revolutionize the country's entire monetary system, and comes impressively close to the modern economy we have today, before it all falls apart. Check out our Summer School video cheat sheet on the origins of money at the Planet Money TikTok.

History 1: Money and the stone coin at the bottom of the sea

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History 2: The golden ages of labor and looms

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Planet Money Summer School

History 2: The golden ages of labor and looms

Who has the power? Workers or bosses? It changes through the ages, though it's usually the bosses. Today, we look at two key moments when the power of labor shifted, for better and worse, and we ask why then? What does history have to say about labor power right now?

History 2: The golden ages of labor and looms

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Special Series

Planet Money Summer School: History

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