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This is Planet Money from NPR. Last time on Econ Battle Zone, Erica emerged victorious. I can't believe I won anything as possible. And was awarded the Econ Battle Zone belt.
There's a lot of gold on this. Today, two new Planet Money reporters enter Econ Battle Zone Stadium. I'm Kenny from Meadville, Pennsylvania. I'm Mary from Richmond, Virginia.
Ready to do whatever it takes to get their hands on the belt. I love shiny things like a raven. I wear that belt for a full month everywhere I went. I'm not giving this belt up.
This is my belt. Welcome to a special episode of Econ Battle Zone. Today, Mary and Kenny come to the champ. Let's have today's contestants join us in Econ Battle Zone Stadium.
Erica, Mary, Kenny, the rules are simple. You will each be assigned at random your own Econ Challenge question and secret ingredient. You will need to answer that question, include your secret ingredient, and delight, and inform our judges. Since I don't know what we're doing, there's no real way to prepare.
I'm already panicking about how I haven't spent 24 hours panicking. Our country is in the midst of a great debate about the federal budget and the deficit. Should we shrink the size of the federal government? Should Congress extend the tax cuts from President Donald Trump's first term?
Today's Econ Challenge questions all have something to do with that budget debate. The computer, please shuffle today's questions and today's mystery ingredients. Mary, your first. Nice.
Your question, what effect will extending the 2017 tax cuts have on economic growth? And why do different economic models give different answers to that question? Okay. And now computer, what is Mary's mystery ingredient?
Rime. To succeed, your piece must include as much rhyming as possible. Mary, how are you feeling about your challenge? Listen, when you said deficit, I was like, oh, these jokers are knocked out.
Like, you better. I am ready for deficit. And then it was about tax cuts, but I like rhyme. I don't often get to make my shows rhyme, so that's exciting.
Alright, let's move on to our next competitor. Computer, what is Kenny's economic challenge question? Kenny, your question is, what signs do economists look for to know whether our country's $36 trillion national debt has reached a level where it has begun to hurt the economy? Okay, I can do this.
Mary looks mad. Mary, did you want this one? Yeah, this one's a slam dunk for me. Sorry, you can have it.
I feel like the stakes are higher. Now I really can't watch this. Computer, what will Kenny's challenge be? Genre.
Kenny, your story must belong to one of the following three genres. Science fiction, romantic comedy, or horror. Only one. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Alright, that leads us to our defending champion, Erica Baris. Erica, there is only one challenge remaining and only one mis-re ingredient.
Here we go. Computer, what you got? Erica, your question is about the fight over whether to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid funding over the next decade. So how did we get here?
What are the three most important events in Medicaid history from its creation? In 1965 to the present day. Okay. And Erica, your piece must contain a musical number.
Whoo! That is great. Oh, no, see, that's not... The dream, Erica!
That is not the dream. Are you kidding me? I hate musicals and I am tone deaf and I don't want any part of this. Contestants, remember, you have just 48 hours to become experts in the federal budget debate, locate and interview your guests and explain everything to us in just three minutes.
Whoever impresses our judges the most will take home the title of Econ Battlezone champion. How's that sound? It sounds terrifying. And Erica, you got some musical lessons to take, I'll be honest.
I'm your host, Keith Romer. And this is Egon Battlezone. Can I keep talking about how I feel about this? I don't think it's fair.
Why do I have to do a musical number? On NPR's Wild Card podcast, musician Noah Kahn says he's learned to live with depression. I think depression anxiety gives you sneaky superpowers in a lot of ways. Like the power of understanding and intensitizing, being able to talk about my flaws about having to be like this terrible taboo thing.
Or listen to that Wild Card conversation on the NPR app or on YouTube at NPR Wild Card. Welcome back to Econ Battlezone. I'm joined now by our two guests and judges. First up is Betsy Stevenson, who teaches economics and public policy at the University of Michigan.
Betsy, what can you tell us about the challenge facing our contestants today? What's going to separate a good economic answer from a great one? Well, these are all kind of meaty economic questions. I think in particular Kenny's question, trying to understand that point in which debt becomes too much, I don't think anybody actually fully knows the answer.
What about for Mary? What relationship are you looking for in terms of the effect individual tax cuts will have on growth? Economic growth fundamentally and always comes down to innovation. So now we've got to understand how giving people more money, somehow spurs innovation in the economy.
That can be true, but sometimes it's not. And then finally for Erica's challenge, what's going to be the mark of success for you there? What are the three most important events in Medicaid history? Is that important to the well-being of the public?
Is that important for debt? Is that important for healthcare? I want to see what she thinks is important and then see if she can make a case for that. Our second judge is one of the senior editors of this American life and a former host of Planet Money, David Kessenbaum.
David, what about the special challenges facing our contestants? David challenged all of them as like, there's a great cringe danger, you know, also that it would distract from the explaining that you're trying to do. But also again, I want to see if they can do it. While our judges awaited the outcome, our contestants were already feeling the pressure, especially the returning champion, Erica.
I'm pretty sure I have the Medicaid part of this island, the musical number part of this is really tripping me up. Erica did not consider herself a musical person. I took piano when I was 10 and four weeks in, the teacher told my parents they should save their money and that was the end of that experience. So, she started looking for allies.
I am sending an email to this country-sinking economist and his name is Merle Hazard, which is kind of funny and he's got all these great songs, like, how long will interest rates stay low? It's kind of a shot in the dark, I don't know if he's going to respond even, but you know, he's just kind of trying things. Meanwhile, Kenny was also out there trying things. So, here's what I'm thinking.
I throw off Erica and Mary, make sure they're not going to the staff meeting. And we should not go to the noon staff meeting, correct? And I'll go to the staff meeting. Correct.
No, I'm not going. And he used that to brainstorm some ideas. He took his question about warning signs that the national debt had grown too large to the planet money zoom meeting. Anyone I should talk to about when the national debt triggers a problem?
The research is all over the map on this, but you talk to three economists and you get five opinions on this. The economy is doing great and we're growing a bunch. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't go up to like a huge percentage of GDP or like it could be a weight that is suppressing growth.
And if it keeps growing, then it's siphoning away both government investment and private investment. Kenny also had questions about the genre he had chosen for his challenge, romantic comedy. On that front, the team was less helpful. It almost immediately was like waylaid by a debate over whether lost in translation even is a rom-com or not.
Wikipedia says it's a rom-com. Lost in translation? It's not a con. I don't know if it's even very wrong.
It's just a sad. Or calling. And I was just like, I don't know what to do. Mary began by diving into the substance of her assignment.
Why economic models disagree about the effect of extending tax cuts? What have you learned? I learned that there are differences in how you can model these things. Like, if you and I both built a model, we might differ on how elastic the world is to our changes.
So, for example, I might think that labor is not that responsive to changes in taxes and that people aren't going to necessarily work a ton more, that that response isn't going to be huge. And you might be like really optimistic about that. But it wasn't long before she turned her attention to her mystery ingredient, rhyme. At the tone, please record your message.
Hi, this is Mary Childs Calling. I was just calling with a bit of an odd request. I have a reality show style challenge. I explain an economic concept in three minutes.
I was hoping to get help from Run the Jewels. I have a really weird and sensitive request for Juicy J. I think you are still working with two chains, possibly. I was wondering if Andre 3000 might be available today.
Oh, and it has to be today, which I realize is insane. Okay, thank you so much. Bye. While Mary waited to hear back, Erica had already managed to land a collaborator.
The guy who's going to be singing with me is a country music singing economist. Merle Hazard had agreed to help and to connect Erica with some of his musical friends. Well, I just booked a Grammy-winning banjo player and an entire Nashville band to work with me on this. So I don't know.
I'm in a pretty good place. Kenny, on the other hand, was feeling less in control. So I think my plan, which has literally developed in the last seven minutes while making coffee, is to make a trailer for a rom-com. A trailer for a rom-com about the national debt.
I'm so mortified that why I'm interviewing a presenter who is so bad and dumb. Ugh, God. As the second day of the Challenge began, Kenny tried to learn how to pull off his plan. It's 4.30 in the morning.
Wrong trailer school, please. What was that? What did she say? That's kinda serious.
hit of like awesome pops on from exactly that. from exactly that. You know I only came to tell you that this can't go anywhere beyond this evening. And you should have won a different dress.
So the narrator says lead number one's name, lead number two's name. And there's the mark level out. And there's a little bit of movie. He's done here.
Like 99.9% parched here. Can really use a cola. There's the name of the movie. He's like heaven.
And then there's the final one. Excuse me. Pardon me. What's wrong with him?
So I think that is how our trailer needs to end. Mary's plans also started to take shape, beginning with a call to Ari Simon at the record label Empire. The only thing I would say is like we're up against the fact that you need it tomorrow. And the fact that like really what you're asking for is like three minutes of someone like wrapping the tasqu economy.
Mary explained that different models made different predictions about the effects of extending tax cuts on growth and on how little of the lost tax revenue might be made up by that growth. And so who projected that would be 16%? So that would be the tax foundation predicted forecast 16% and the tax policy center said 6%. In turn, Raj worked with Mary to find a rhyme to explain the importance of factors not included in those economic models.
Indogenating. Doesn't it feel like there's a lot to work with there? Yeah, definitely. Indogen, I'm going to put it in my phone.
Meanwhile, Erica tried to put a country spin on how Medicaid spending had grown over the decades as Congress extended coverage to different groups of people. The thing is that the big thing in this is the 1972 expansion. She and her new band in Nashville met for a writing session and kicked around ideas about how to transmute Medicaid's increasing percentage of federal spending into country music gold. The $80 budget share was $2.4, but there were still bigger changes in store.
The material was not a natural fix. So the main thing was that in 91 is 4% of the budget, but then by 2000 it was 6%. I actually have to say the word's affordable care act somewhere in there. Okay, but I mean, did that mind?
The Affordable Care Act. Uh, yeah. Can we try it? That's by the end of the night.
They had the beginnings of a song. How do we do it? Does all the money look like that? That's not okay, Erica?
That sounds great. Really? Yeah, sounds so good. It's all like a real song.
Yeah, it is. It's a word. And then there was Kenny. He had booked an economist.
He was sure good answer his question about when the size of the national debt starts to hurt the economy. Hello, hello. Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, that works.
Harvard professor Ken Rogoff. Now I have to start out by saying that the whole premise of what you're asking me about there's no answer to. Kenny hoped to use the interview as raw material for a charming romantic comedy movie trailer. What was your plan for your interview with Ken Rogoff?
So I was like, why do I specifically need from Ken? Some kind of physical comedy is good. It's good to have a pet and I have a dog that wears diapers. He could walk through the background.
That might be funny. And I came down to this list. I needed the meat cute on tape. I needed a moment of tension with him on tape.
And then I needed a moment of softening slash reconciliation. What's your exposure to romantic comedies? My wife watches a lot. And how well did your plan work out?
Poorly. I would say poorly. Okay, sorry. I'm sorry about this.
This dog is out of control. I've lost photos of my house. So I feel like we've gone through everything at this point. Absolutely, professor.
Now, I will edit it so that it sounds like Ken Rogoff and I had a delightful interaction. It's possible though if you ask him, he will be like, I'm the type of guy playing money. And he must be the dumbest reporter I've ever met in my entire life. As the deadline closed in, the contestants worried whether their creations would be ready in time.
The stakes are high. I'm going to open this file. If it works, if it doesn't, well, I don't know what we'll do. Literally everything that could possibly have gone wrong technically went wrong.
Oh my God, this is so bad. This is so bad. I have half an hour. I have half an hour.
I'm not even close to finishing this. I'm so... Alright, time is up. Hands up.
Hands up. Hands up from your editing software. Erica Bares, how are you feeling about your piece? I feel like medium.
Medium rare. So I'm going to call it medium rare right now. Mary, how are you feeling about your piece? Mm.
Well, Keith, if I may pull from one of the greats, there's a certain slant of light winter afternoons that oppress like the heft of cathedral tunes. Heavenly hurt, it gives us. We can find no scar, but internal difference where the meanings are. But Mary, how do you feel about your piece?
Oh, sorry. Was that the question? Um, decent, you know? Keni, I'm going to go to you next.
Y'all, it was... I haven't heard it. Uh, so I don't know. That's not good.
I don't know. That's not good, man. And frankly, I don't know what piece of audio I put in at the end. Coming up, the contestants present their stories to our judges.
And we all learn who will secure the Econ Battle Zone Belt. This week on sources and methods, every White House has an official counterterrorism plan, a strategy document, basically. But President Trump's new 2026 plan shifts focus to left-wing extremism. We're unpacking what's in the document and who influenced it.
This week on sources and methods. You can listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Econ Battle Zone. We've assembled our three contestants and our guest judges here in Econ Battle Zone Stadium.
This American life, David Kestenbaum. Hi. And from the University of Michigan, Betsy Stevenson. Hello.
Let's get right into it. Mary, you're up first. What have you brought our judges today? Good morning, judges.
My mission was to investigate what effect a tax cut extension would have on GDP growth. And then explain why different economic models make different answers to that question. The economy I talked to said yes, it could generate some growth largely by incentivizing lower income workers to work more hours. But everyone agreed it would not be nearly enough to make up the lost future tax revenue.
For help with my challenge, which was rhyming, I called in some trusted professionals, award-winning children's book, Author Lee Scantlin, and Planetlenny producer extraordinaire James Neat. And then I got help writing and performing from a rapper in Berkeley named Rex Life Raj. And the result of that collaboration is what you're about to hear. Yo, what's up?
It's Rex Life Raj. And I'm Mary Childs. Hello, and welcome to Planetlenny Raj. Thanks for helping do the most.
Today, we're going to try to figure out tax cuts. What about the most economic growth? The political rhetoric is that it's supposed to help everybody. So does it.
We're going to cause some experts to try to make sense of it. So first, let's check the data with the studies show about if the cuts will help the economy to grow. And the good news is from nearly every perspective, they drive a little growth, which is the objective. But that cost of lost revenue, federal cash not coming in.
The government would have gotten for it to really in. Four trillion lost revenue when they cut taxes. Six to 16% gets recouped on a back end. That's according to the analysis, according to the studies, because people will get to keep a little bit more of their money.
The way that that's supposed to work is to incentivize, to make workers feel more ambitious and more energized. Tax cuts might generate some economic growth, but a lot of people think that's short term at the most. The question is, will cuts lead to more boots on the clock or just more executive bonuses and buying back stocks? He asked Kent Smetters at Penn.
He said both. The problem with that is that we're actually finding, yes, it's not big economic growth. In fact, statistically it's kind of no different than zero. So even if you're looking for it, tax cuts aren't the hero.
Because cuts help the rich more. The money, they crave it. Hiring people get the money, they're going to probably save it. Not spending the economy says economists bank a agilory, so it doesn't boost growth as much as it could.
That's not this story. Let's talk about elasticity, something that we should mention. It's how people or businesses respond to incentives, how flexible we are with our time and our money spending like what tax cuts push us into making different decisions. The elasticities aren't huge, but it's a big base.
Projections also differ based on how you see the world, how reactive we might be, and how changes get unfurled. The fact that things are complex, there's too much to account for, no model gets it all, there's just stuff they must ignore. I have a new word that you can say with me. Okay, Raj, what is it?
Indigeneity. When feedback loops start to twist and tighten the bolts and something outside of the model starts messing with the results, they use the lower classes, the engine of the economy. Making you turn your life force to a commodity. Do people work more if the taxes are lower?
We gotta see. Will tax cuts make the businesses invest consciously? Or will they make the working man work more? I just don't know if you gonna get what you hope for.
They say that it'll help the working man earn more. That just sounds like some rhetoric that we heard before. Tax cuts for economic growth feel like a turf war. I just don't know if you gonna get what you hope for.
Thanks so much, Raj, with Raj's like time and glistening. This is NPR. Thanks for listening. Oh my gosh.
Woo. That was out of this world. That was amazing. Thank you.
Thank you. David Kessenbaum. What'd you think? Overall really nice job.
Like I thought, oh rhyming, that's probably one of the easier ones, but then when you hear it, like it twists how you have to write every single sentence. It's just really, really challenging. I definitely admired the ingenuity and getting Raj to do that. But I was genuinely interested in unpacking the question in some detail and maybe that's not possible when you're also asked to rhyme.
But I do think as a reporter, you have to figure out how to balance those things and not try and cover too much ground. Thank you, David. And Betsy, how did you feel about the economics of the piece? You know, I love it.
I actually think it's just so clever. I mean, I did not see you dropping indogenating in there. And like some of these phrases like life force to a commodity, just beautiful and really good economics. The main idea is whose behavior is going to be changed?
Is it going to be lower income people or higher income people? And by changing their behavior, is it really getting them to work harder? Or is it just making them richer? Thank you, judges.
Next, we turn our attention to our second challenger, Kenny. Kenny, tell us a little bit about what you're presenting today. Well, for my assignments, I have made a rom-com movie trailer featuring the indicators Whelan Wong, narrated by NPR chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley. And in this, hopefully, you will hear how one economic sign in particular may give us the clearest warning that the national debt is beginning to hurt the US economy.
I've heard this piece zero times, judges. I didn't have time to listen back. I think all of the parts are in their places. But I don't know for sure.
Well, Kenny, let's find out. Go ahead and press play when you're ready. Happy National Coniac Day! Hey, it's 7AM!
Why do they believe to have been established by the coniac industry in the United States as a way to sponsor... Economics have made up holidays eight years ago. I know. Kenny, is it down on his luck podcaster?
Is it National Walk with Crutches Day? I had hip surgery from a running injury. I knew you'd been running away from serious stories, Kenny, but this is ridiculous. Kenneth is a famous Ivy League economist.
Harvard professor and former IMF chief economist is out with a new book today. I'm Ken Rungas, good to have you all. Good to see you. Two cans.
One world apart. Until one day. Welcome to Econ, Battle Zone. One assignment.
Kenny, your topic is national debt. Would change everything. Dear Professor Rogoff, interview request. Urgent, interview request.
Ken Rungoff said yes. This is my chance to do something serious. Please don't turn this into national national debt days. That's not bad.
I don't like Kenny back away from the calendar. What happens? My credit is in place here. When can's collide?
We have a shared experience here. Your Kenneth. My name is also Kenneth. Did you get...
I guess I get teased. Ken Barbie. Kenny G. No, no, because it wasn't so common.
Anyway, let's move on to... Yeah. Ken, two cans teach something to all of us specifically. To teach us what indicators do economists look to for whether the national debt is harming the economy?
The big thing would be interest rates start going on. If the markets are already pressuring you because they're nervous about how much you're borrowing and they see you have a very cavalier attitude towards it, they'll say, fine, I'll keep lending to you, but instead of just 1%, how about 1.5% more that you're going to have to pay? I see. So that's when you get stuck in one of these cycles from the B-Body award winning planet money.
I mean, he says you only need to look at interest rates. Comes a store. Interest rates affect everything, Kenny. About the interest we owe on our debts.
Interest rates go up. They've gone up on everything on home mortgages, on car loans, on student loans, and the national debt plays a large role enough. And the debts we owe to the people who interest us. You can't spell Kenny without Ken.
Kenny Malone, Ken Rogoff, and the indicators Whelan Wong coming this summer in nationally indebted to you. How bad could it be? It's not like your dog walked in and knocked your crutches on your head. Hmm.
He's 80. All right. And the crutches have fallen. That was beautiful.
That was unbelievable. The debts we owe to those who interest us? I can't. Let's go ahead and turn to our judges.
David Kestonbaum, what did you make of that? I found it very enjoyable, the presentation of it. I enjoyed the classic planet money of trying something funny with the important smart person, Ken Rogoff, who is not there for it. That's really kind of...
So I thought like, presentationally, it was excellent. I thought content-wise, I really had lots of questions and I really wanted to dig into it and I just felt like I was just getting started. So... Yeah, that's all in the movie.
The full movie. Anyway, given the complications of the assignment, very nicely done. And Betsy, what did you make of the economics and the piece? Well, I just want to say that was very, very funny and enjoyable piece.
One of the most important concepts is what you covered, the idea that the interest rate can go up. There are a lot of other aspects. We care a lot about what's the return on the investment we're making. So are we borrowing for an investment?
Are we borrowing for consumption? If we're investing in critical minerals so that our auto industry and our computer industry and our AI industry can grow, then we're basically economic growth is going to stay ahead of the debt. And it was that idea that was missing in the piece. Your goal was to answer the question of when should we become concerned about the size of the debt, what's the tipping point?
The tipping point is when the debt is growing faster than the economy. Thank you. Thank you, judges. All right, we've got one contestant left, our returning champion, Erica Barris.
Erica, what did you bring us today? Okay, my assignment was to select the three most important moments in Medicaid funding from its creation in 1965 to today. I picked several inflection points when the program expanded who could be covered. So in 1966, just 2% of the population was covered by Medicaid.
It's 21%. To explain how that happened, I wrote lyrics for a song and then I had to find someone to make that song a reality. I found this country singer, economist, his name is Merle Hazard. He helped me put together an old band called E.D.
and the entitlement. The band is Matt, Gary Tristan, my new good friend, Alison Brown, who is a Grammy award-winning banjo player. And they helped me write the music, they helped me tweak some of the lyrics and put this whole thing together. And then I sang the song, even though I cannot sing.
And it is called the Medicaid song, and here it is. Here's a little number about all the numbers relating to Medicaid. It all started in 1965 when the government said health insurance, you needed to stay alive. So Congress, they passed a bill.
Some money from the feds but managed by the states. Low income Americans got preventative care on their plates. It was an entitlement program, if you will. By 1970, Medicaid was 1.4% of the budget through a funding formula that covered people from LA to Nantucket.
And the first big change, coverage for more people with disabilities in 72. By 1980, 1.4 was 2.4, but there were still bigger changes in store, through the decade the economy slowed but health care grew. How did we get here? How did Medicaid grow?
How did Medicaid grow? What happened when? And where does the money flow? By the 90s, Medicaid had grown in all kinds of ways.
Long-term care and women and kids no longer had to pay. In 1981, Medicaid spending was 4% of the budget, but with a new change, more services were added to the bucket. In 1986, welfare reform made it so. Cash assistance wasn't tied to Medicaid eligibility.
What that did was expand the pool of people and gave some folks more flexibility. Then Chip expanded Medicaid for kids, and by the year 2000, federal spending was 6.6. How did we get here? How did Medicaid grow?
What happened when? And where does the money flow? Take it out, sir. Now we arrive at our third big change.
It was back in 2010, Congress enacted the ACA. The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid. The federal government offered a 90% match, but just for states that expanded coverage matched and set up one more way in which states get paid. Now 9% of the budget goes to Medicaid each year, nearly $900 billion.
If you want to be clear, a bit of us use Medicaid according to reportage under the current proposal on hundreds of billions of dollars would be cut to maybe fill a budgetary gap. But it would lead 8 million people without healthcare coverage. Oh, how did we get here? How did Medicaid grow?
What happened when? And where? Oh, where? Oh, where?
Oh, where? Does the money flow? Okay. Incredible.
Oh, Erica. Fantastic. Let's start with you. What did you make of it?
That was very enjoyable to listen to. Nicely done. There's just something nice about hearing the human voice. You know what I mean?
You took advantage of that. And I enjoyed your Bob Dylan-ish delivery. Yes. And Betsy, let's turn to you.
What did you make of the economics of this piece? Erica, you were asked what was important and what you said was, how did it grow? And not to refrain from the song, I love it. And I think you did identify some of the big policy changes that led to the expansion of Medicaid.
And ACA is the biggest expansion of Medicaid. And I think a lot of people don't realize that a chip expanding Medicaid to children was also really important part of that. So I thought you identified some of the real key aspects of how it grew. And I would say I love the song.
I'm really glad that you jumped right into it and you smashed it with the singing. Thank you, judges. Great job. So who will our judges choose to be the next econ battle zone chip?
Will it be Mary and her tax cut rap? Kenny's rom-com take on the national debt for Erica's Medicaid country song? Mary, Kenny, Erica, you were each tasked with teaching us about one piece of the debate about the federal budget and delighting us in the process. And all three of you should hold your heads high.
I will say this is the closest any econ battle zone vote has ever been. What? There is only one econ battle zone belt. So there can be only one winner.
David, Betsy, who's taken home the belt? Can I just say how hard it was before I say? If we were a jury, we'd be there for days. They're all so impressive.
They're all just so impressive. Mary, yours was really great and covered so much ground and so much depth in such a clever way. And then Erica, like so lovely to hear you sing and go through the history of it. But Kenny, I thought of all of them, like you narrowed the scope in a way that was useful.
You picked one simple thing you were to convey and you did that in a package that was enjoyable, which I think is in the great traditions of planet money. Kenny, the belt is yours. What? Oh my God, I'm genuinely stunned.
Thank you so much. This is one of the greatest achievements of my professional life. To win this in front of Betsy, in front of whom I was worried about falling on my face intellectually, which I feel like I did a little bit still nonetheless, but that's okay. I feel like this justifies everything.
Thank you so much. Kenny Malone, congratulations. You are the Econ Battlezone Champion and this is your belt. It's so big.
It's so shiny. It's so big and shiny. I don't have any words. Will Kenny get to hold on to his big shiny Econ Battlezone belt or will a new contender walk away victorious?
Find out on the next Econ Battlezone. Got a topic for the next Econ Battlezone? You can email us planetmoney at npr.org and if you want to see Kenny with his Econ Battle zone belt, keep an eye on our Instagram feed at PlanetMoney. The great James Snead produced this episode of Planet Money.
The show was edited by Jess Chang, engineered by Cina Lefredo with an assist from Jimmy Kealey and fact-checked by C.E.R. Who is Alex Goldmark, is our executive producer. Special thanks today to Robin Rudewitz and Sarah Rosenbaum and to Erica's backing band The Entitlements, John Shane, also known as Merl Hazard, Allison Brown, Matt Coles, Gary West and Tristan Skrogitz. I'm Keith Romer.
This is NPR. Thanks for listening. If that's you, you might like LifeKit. Whether you're looking to make changes around your health, your money, your relationships, your parenting, you're guaranteed the this is so helpful feeling.
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