Adrian Ma

Adrian Ma covers work, money and other "business-ish" for NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money.

Adrian Ma covers work, money and other "business-ish" for NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money.

Housing affordability is a top concern for Americans. Estimates for the number of needed homes stretch into the millions. It's a tricky business quantifying the U.S. housing shortage.

Influence. The ability to persuade, motivate, or connect with other people. It's one of these skills that's hard to measure, but incredibly important in the office. However, some would argue that we often misunderstand how influence works. Today on the show, we talk to Steve Martin, Faculty Director of Behavioral Science at Columbia Business School, about the unspoken rules of influence in the workplace. 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.

2024 is over (phew!). We had weird consumer sentiment vibes, Bitcoin went to the moon, and the economy might have achieved a soft landing. And that's just a few 2024 indicators!

Happy Holidays from The Indicator! For the next week, we're running some of our favorite shows from this year. On today's show, we fire up the gas logs and pour a mug of cocoa to discuss the made-for-TV rom-com machine, and how television executives learned to mass produce seasonal romance. This piece originally aired October 21, 2024. Related episodes: Love Week series page TV holiday rom coms and the alpaca bubble that burst (PM+ only)Special thanks to Grant-Lee Phillips for our Love Week theme song and Kaitlin Brito for episode artwork. 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.

This year, there was some economic good news to go around. Inflation generally ticked down. Unemployment more or less held around 4-percent.

Gaming provides entertainment and community for billions of people worldwide. However, video games haven't always been accessible to those with disabilities. But this is changing. Today we explain how accessibility has become an increasingly important priority for game developers and how advocates pushed them to this point. This piece originally aired April 23, 2024. Related episodes: Forever games: the economics of the live service model (Apple / Spotify) The Indicator's video game series 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.

If you need some reading glasses in the United States, you don't have to break the bank to pick some up. That's important for older folks who need a little extra magnification. But in some parts of the world, people who need readers don't have that privilege. Today on the show, we'll find out why that is and learn the economic solution to the reading glasses shortage.This piece originally aired October 9, 2024. Related episodes:Two indicators: supply chain solutions (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.

People with American stocks in their portfolio are likely very happy right now. U.S. stocks were on a tear in 2024.