Best Economics Podcasts (2026)
Economics shapes everything — housing, wages, trade wars, the price of eggs — but most coverage is either too dry or too shallow. These 10 podcasts actually make economic thinking accessible and worth your time.
Waking up with a podcast on iOS
Podcast Alarm is a fully featured podcast player and alarm. You can set up queues of your favourite episodes and listen to them whenever you like. Why not subscribe to your favourite podcast and have the latest episode wake you up every weekday morning. There are lots of screenshots and videos in our "How to set a podcast as an alarm on iphone?" blog post.
1. Planet Money
NPR's flagship economics show has been turning complex economic concepts into compelling stories since 2008. Episodes run about 25 minutes and cover everything from tariff policy to the economics of concert tickets. They release two episodes a week, and the back catalogue alone is worth months of listening.
2. Freakonomics Radio
Stephen Dubner applies economic thinking to questions you would never expect — why do people cheat, what makes a good hospital, how does the hidden economy of dealmakers actually work. The production quality is outstanding, and Steve Levitt now hosts occasional episodes too. Weekly releases, each around 45 minutes.
3. EconTalk
Russ Roberts has been doing weekly hour-long conversations with economists, authors, and thinkers since 2006. The format is simple — one guest, one topic, genuine intellectual curiosity — and it works beautifully. Roberts asks the questions most interviewers skip, and he is refreshingly honest about his own biases. Nearly 1,000 episodes and still going strong.
4. Odd Lots
Bloomberg's Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal dig into the weird corners of finance and economics that mainstream coverage ignores. They will dedicate an entire episode to understanding the plumbing of the repo market or why shipping container prices matter. Episodes drop every Monday and Thursday, and the depth of their guest roster is hard to beat.
5. Marketplace
Kai Ryssdal has been making economic news feel human since 2005. The daily show runs about 30 minutes and explains what happened in the economy today and why you should care, without jargon or condescension. It is the most listened-to business and economics programme in America for a reason.
6. More or Less: Behind the Stats
Tim Harford and his BBC Radio 4 team fact-check the numbers used in politics, news, and everyday life. Each episode picks apart a specific claim — are a million new species really being discovered? Is that inflation figure misleading? — and explains what the data actually shows. Essential listening for anyone who wants to think more clearly about economic claims.
7. Capitalisn't
Luigi Zingales and Bethany McLean ask a sharp question: where does capitalism work, and where does it fail? Produced by the University of Chicago Booth School's Stigler Center, the podcast is rigorous without being academic. They tackle monopoly power, regulatory capture, and the gap between how markets should work and how they actually do.
8. Trade Talks
Chad Bown from the Peterson Institute for International Economics covers global trade with a depth nobody else matches. In a world of tariff escalations and shifting supply chains, understanding trade policy has never mattered more. Episodes are focused and well-sourced — Bown literally wrote the data that trade economists cite.
9. Macro Musings
David Beckworth from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University goes deep on monetary policy, central banking, and macroeconomic theory. Recent guests include Scott Sumner on nominal GDP counterfactuals and Tyler Muir on quantitative easing. Over 500 episodes and arguably the best podcast on macro for people who want the real substance.
10. Pitchfork Economics
Nick Hanauer — a venture capitalist who calls himself a "class traitor" — challenges conventional economic wisdom on inequality, wages, and how the economy actually works. He and co-host David Goldstein bring on leading thinkers to question ideas that get treated as settled. Recent episodes have tackled wealth limits, government dysfunction, and the politics of the work ethic.
Understand the world better
Set an economics podcast as your alarm and start each day understanding how the world actually works. Download Podcast Alarm and wake up thinking bigger.
Waking up with a podcast on iOS
Podcast Alarm is a fully featured podcast player and alarm. You can set up queues of your favourite episodes and listen to them whenever you like. Why not subscribe to your favourite podcast and have the latest episode wake you up every weekday morning. There are lots of screenshots and videos in our "How to set a podcast as an alarm on iphone?" blog post.
