Marketplace Weekend With Lizzie O'leary

Roughly one in five Americans has a disability. Those numbers increase with age and vary across race and gender, but every single one of those people is carving out an economic life. In this hourlong special, we focused on three pillars of the economy: education, work and health care.

This week, we are revisiting a bunch of our favorite stories from over the past few years. The average woman earns about 80 cents for every dollar the average man makes. So how can we move toward pay equality? Then, our health. Changes in health care affect society’s most vulnerable citizens — children. We’ll take a look back at our visit to a pediatric hospital in Southern California. Plus, dogs. Rescue dogs make our hearts melt AND teach us lessons about supply and demand! The business of rescuing, transporting and adopting puppies is complicated, so we break it down. We also talk with Ask a Manager’s Alison Green about what to wear in the office.

This week, we are revisiting the stories listeners engaged with the most. You yelled at them, you talked about them, you tweeted them and you “liked” them. We take a look back at a range of pieces, including why we’ve fallen out of love with chain restaurants, what’s happening to America’s coal mines and what living on minimum wage looks like across the country.

Back in 2017, we visited three cities: Dalton, Georgia; Gillette, Wyoming; and Corvallis, Oregon. In each place, we met with the mayor and with folks around town, getting a sense of the economy there and how it’s changing. We visited carpet factories and coal mines, spoke to students and business owners, and found unique stories of economic change — and how it affects real people and their lives.

A lot happened in 2017, and we’re returning to one particular natural disaster that changed Puerto Rico from top to bottom. As communities on the island have recovered, there’s a trail of money to follow behind it all. This week, we are revisiting this hourlong special on the economics of disaster. We head to Puerto Rico to examine life on the ground following Hurricane Maria. We look at the debt situation, the realities of life when the lights stay out and what it takes to bring power back. Plus, Puerto Rico’s dairy farmers and a surprising boom in renewable energy. Also, recovery in Texas and how Florida is handling an influx of Puerto Ricans fleeing the damage from Hurricane Maria.

This week, we are revisiting an episode that we did on the industry that wants to make a better version of you. The market has been flooded with everything from workout routines to diets to therapy apps and food fads. But have they actually changed the way we feel or the way we invest in our health needs? And who is it that has access to this market? These are the questions on our minds this week. We’ll look at how the term wellness has evolved, why it’s so hard to find mental health services that will take insurance, plus food crazes, food deserts and the economics behind healthy eating.

On this final episode, we talk storm chasing, rent-to-own housing and disability and hiring. Alison Green gives her best advice on asking for vacation time, a Lego engineer talks about how he does his job and our own Lizzie O’Leary takes the Marketplace Quiz.

Roughly one in five Americans has a disability. Those numbers increase with age and vary across race and gender. And every single one of those people is carving out an economic life. Marketplace is covering the economics of disability in an hourlong special. We can’t get to everything in this episode, so we’re focusing on some of the pillars of the economy: education, work and health care. Tune in to the episode above to hear stories about how people with disabilities access the economy and share your own stories by visiting us on Facebook or Twitter.  

Did you know there’s a shortage of truck drivers? What that means for them and for the prices of products we buy. Plus, after a week of negotiations between world leaders, we take a dive into what it takes to be good at diplomacy. Then, futboool!!! The World Cup just started. It’s arguably the biggest sporting event in the world — and a multibillion-dollar business that’s rife with corruption. How U.S. prosecutors finally caught corrupt FIFA leaders, and what it means for the future of the sport. (06/15/2018)    

We’re diving into the economics of being a recent grad this week, from building credit, to finding the right job, to saving for a home (or simply paying the rent). Also, Marketplace staff lay out the graduation advice they wish they received but never got. And we look into just why “Pomp and Circumstance” is at every graduation. Plus, Linda Cardellini of “Freaks and Geeks” takes the Marketplace Quiz. (06/08/2017)    

We take a dive into the history and psychology of women robbers, the ones out there in the real world and also the ones on the big screen in the form of “Ocean’s 8,” which hits theaters this month. We sat down with Olivia Milch, the film’s co-writer and co-producer, to ask what’s up with all the remakes and what it will take for women to have their own original blockbusters. Also, how new tariffs affect the U.S.’s credibility with our trading partners, biased language in job listings and a story of solar power in Puerto Rico. Plus, what is FIFA’s role in promoting LGBT rights as the World Cup heads to Russia this month? (06/01/2018)    

Want to know why you’ve been getting bogged down with terms-of-service emails from companies, how to tell if bias trainings work or how entrepreneurs learn the business of, well, business? We dive into all of that on this week’s show. Plus, the surprising ancient origins of the word “economics.” And why hunting feral hogs has become an aerial activity in Texas.    

Globalization has been touted as this inevitable, unstoppable force. But as the U.S., China and other major economies flex their muscles over trade, is this assumption all wrong? America has a long history of global trade and a varied one. Our economy has swung widely from protecting our very first industries with subsidies and imports to brokering global deals that open borders and lift trade barriers. It’s not pure economics that dictates our trade relationships; it’s politics and social context, too. Who’s gained from open borders and who’s lost? Who are tariffs designed to protect, and have they worked? Trade Off offers stories of work, reward and American attitudes toward the rest of the world. Scott Tong and Sarah Gardner explore the topic across time and geography, from America’s first industrial park in New Jersey — envisioned by Alexander Hamilton — to a growing community of tech workers from India in Kansas City.    

Why is it harder for the government to innovate in the world than for the private sector? We ask a former White House tech expert. Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court is about to rule on sports betting. And booksellers and authors in the romance novel industry are pushing for more diverse representation in the traditional publishing world.    

How much of our lives do we actually control? We dive into that question this week and look at seasonal allergies and their financial burden, how one writer got more than lucky at poker and landed in the big bucks, and a peek behind the scenes at who really makes rules for what happens on the internet. Plus, how import and export businesses adapt to the threats of tariffs, and how one police department uses mindfulness to address concerns around aggression in its ranks.    

Seven months after Hurricane Maria, life in Puerto Rico is still in the midst of rebuilding. We went back to the island and found two distinct Puerto Ricos — people still seeking recovery assistance and people seeing Maria’s aftermath as opportunity to transform the island. We explore school closures, issues in housing and we check in with people we met just after the storm hit. Plus, a look at a west Texas community where oil production has tripled in the past five years. And, Ask a Manager’s Alison Green tells us how to navigate clueless colleagues, lunch-stealing bosses and the rest of your life at work.    

The Marketplace Weekend team was out reporting in Puerto Rico this week. But before she left, Lizzie O’Leary talked to John Schwartz of the New York Times about how he got his financial life in order. Plus, we bring you some of our favorite stories from the past year: what makes a food desert, how supply and demand works with rescue puppies, and what to do about a water source that crosses under the U.S.-Mexico border.    

What happens when welfare is tied to work? We discuss the issue with experts. Plus, a primer on Russian internet usage, the questions your accountant gets the most (and answers, too) and a look at the ins and outs of being a major league umpire.    

As teacher protests and walkouts continue around the country, we take a look at the economic realities of being a teacher, and at the decrease in school funding that’s behind it all. Plus, how China’s tariffs on U.S. exports will affect California’s wine country. Also on the show, the 20-year anniversary of the first big bank, the cost of filing taxes, and the tech workers who are saving so efficiently they’re planning to retire in their early thirties.    

Ever wondered why a coffee company makes the most-published Passover Haggadah? Or how a 109-year-old dairy company advertises on social media? We’ve got you covered. Plus: What it takes to win a trade war and how to get on the internet in China. And Alison Green returns for an “ask me anything” edition of Ask a Manager.