Wailin Wong

Unanswered messages. Endless swiping. An opaque algorithm. The backlash to online dating feels like it's reached a fever pitch recently.

The Maldives is a small island nation struggling with a heavy debt load. Its borrowing includes $500 million worth of something called sukuk.

The new movie Conclave is a fun and twisty political thriller. Ralph Fiennes plays a cardinal tasked to managing the secretive process in which the pope is replaced. The film offers plenty of scandals, surprises, and dark horses, along with some strong commentary on the state of the Catholic church. Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), the film also stars Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd/nprpopculture. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour

In 1880, the Chinese were the biggest group of immigrants in the western U.S. But Sinophobic sentiments crystallized into racist policies and eventually the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The rationale was that banning Chinese laborers would boost job opportunities for U.S.-born workers. Today, an economist explains how the Chinese exclusion laws affected the economies of western states and what it says about our current debate over immigration and jobs.

Romance is one of the few profitable genres in the self-publishing industry. How romance writers turned e-books into a publishing juggernaut.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1% and 12,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy during October. It's a lower-than-expected jobs number, from a period that saw two significant hurricanes in the southeast and a strike from workers at Boeing. Today on the show, we explain the complexities of calculating the monthly job numbers, and why the Bureau of Labor Statistics can be trusted.Related episodes: Behind the scenes of Jobs Friday (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.

Unanswered messages. Endless swiping. An opaque algorithm. The online dating backlash feels like it's reached a fever pitch. Hinge's CEO is trying to do something about it.

Stocks jump, the temperamental peso, and other election aftermath indicators toggle caption (Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)

Major flooding events are increasingly common across the U.S., but homeowners looking for flood insurance will find few choices. The main providers of flood insurance is the U.S. government through the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP. But even though the NFIP is one of the only flood insurance games in town, it's drowning in debt. On today's episode, the NFIP's struggle to stay afloat. Related listening: Hazard maps: The curse of knowledge (Apple / Spotify) When insurers can't get insurance Flood money 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.

Nuclear energy hasn't been a growing industry in decades. But now, it seems to be making a comeback. This week, the Biden administration announced a goal to triple nuclear energy capacity in the US by 2050. And over the past few months, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have all made deals to use nuclear energy to power their artificial intelligence appetites. Today on the show, could nuclear energy work differently this time? Related episodes:The debate at the heart of new electricity transmission (Apple / Spotify) Wind boom, wind bust (Two windicators) (Apple / Spotify) How China became solar royalty (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.