Keith King was upset when his marriage ended. His wife had cheated, and his family broke apart. And that's when he learned about a very old type of lawsuit, called a heart balm tort. A lawsuit that would let him sue the man his now ex-wife had gotten involved with during their marriage.
On this episode, where heart balm torts came from, what relationships looked like back then, and why these lawsuits still exist today (in some states, anyway.) And also, what happened when Keith King used a heart balm tort to try to deal with the most significant economic entanglement of his life: his marriage.
This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Sarah Gonzalez. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Molly Messick. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Gilly Moon. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
There are tons of markets that don't exist because people just don't want to allow a market – for whatever reason, people feel icky about putting a price on something. For example: Surrogacy is a legal industry in parts of the United States, but not in much of the rest of the world. Assisted end-of-life is a legal medical transaction in some states, but is illegal in others.
When we have those knee-jerk reactions and our gut repels us from considering something apparently icky, economics asks us to look a little more closely.
Today on the show, we have three recommendations of things that may feel kinda wrong but economics suggests may actually be the better way. First: Could the matching process of organ donation be more efficient if people could buy and sell organs? Then: Should women seek revenge more often in the workplace? And finally, what if insider trading is actually useful?
This episode was hosted by Mary Childs and Greg Rosalsky. It was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Cena Loffredo. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
There is only one public bank in the United States, and a group in Rochester, N.Y., is trying to change that. The Indicator from Planet Money explores the challenges of public banking in the U.S.
Parents are struggling to find day care for their children — yet, day care centers are having a hard time staying open. Our Planet Money team looks at America's broken day care system.
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Many tech startups thought they lost everything until the government stepped in.
When the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates, the interest rate on savings account usually follows in step. But recently, that logic hasn't held up. (Story aired on ATC on Jan. 15, 2023.)
Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, but almost a third of it was in bank loans. He used a leveraged buyout strategy, which means Twitter, not Musk, is on the hook to pay back the loans.
Productivity is probably the most important economic indicator for the health of an economy, and in the U.S. it's falling. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Oct. 5, 2022.)
Many workers now have the ability to work remotely. And cities across the country are trying to lure these workers with cash and other perks. (Story first aired on ATC on March 31, 2022.)
Music icons like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have sold their songwriting catalogs for eye-popping amounts of money. It's a growing trend in an industry that's shifted since the start of streaming.
Congress approved $47 billion to pay back rent and prevent evictions. But after nearly 10 months, the vast majority of that money has not reached the millions of people who desperately need it.
Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond is coming to an end with the release of No Time To Die. But with Amazon acquiring MGM, where does the 007 franchise go from here?
Thursday marks 40 years since former President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers. That dealt a serious blow to the American labor movement.
