mary childs
@marychilds.bsky.social
a cohost of 🌏💰 and author of The Bond King
mchilds at npr dot org
Signal @marychilds01
mchilds at npr dot org
Signal @marychilds01
Reposted by mary childs
So much public health work involves spreadsheets. This reporting is a wonderful spotlight on the compassion and humanism that motivates the people providing direct services as well as those who are deep in cell formulas trying to make the best funding decisions they can under extreme uncertainty.
After USAID got cut, I asked GiveWell if @planetmoney.bsky.social could ride along as they tried to figure out if and how to jump into the void. They said yes. They recorded weeks and weeks of deliberations. Here is the episode about it: www.npr.org/2025/11/26/n...
www.npr.org
December 1, 2025 at 5:30 PM
So much public health work involves spreadsheets. This reporting is a wonderful spotlight on the compassion and humanism that motivates the people providing direct services as well as those who are deep in cell formulas trying to make the best funding decisions they can under extreme uncertainty.
Reposted by mary childs
In the wake of USAID cuts, global aid programs had to drastically reduce their work. Private philanthropic groups tried to jump in. On today’s show, we get to listen in on one group’s decision-making: Givewell figures out if it can fund a program in Cameroon.
Saving lives with fewer dollars : Planet Money
Givewell is a nonprofit organization that gives money to “save or improve the most lives per dollar.” Part of their whole thing is a rigorous research process with copious and specific datapoints.…
buff.ly
November 27, 2025 at 3:53 PM
In the wake of USAID cuts, global aid programs had to drastically reduce their work. Private philanthropic groups tried to jump in. On today’s show, we get to listen in on one group’s decision-making: Givewell figures out if it can fund a program in Cameroon.
Reposted by mary childs
In matching, brilliant blue suits, David Byrne and his band squeeze behind the Desk to perform four songs, including Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime." n.pr/4pFYoun
David Byrne: Tiny Desk Concert
In matching, brilliant blue suits, David Byrne and his band squeeze behind the Desk to perform four songs, including Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime."
n.pr
December 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
In matching, brilliant blue suits, David Byrne and his band squeeze behind the Desk to perform four songs, including Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime." n.pr/4pFYoun
Reposted by mary childs
Reposted by mary childs
For this Thanksgiving, Planet Money and The Indicator staffers offer economic insights they're grateful for. n.pr/48Ab1BC
8 economic insights we're grateful for
For this Thanksgiving, Planet Money and The Indicator staffers offer economic insights they're grateful for.
n.pr
November 25, 2025 at 11:40 AM
For this Thanksgiving, Planet Money and The Indicator staffers offer economic insights they're grateful for. n.pr/48Ab1BC
After USAID got cut, I asked GiveWell if @planetmoney.bsky.social could ride along as they tried to figure out if and how to jump into the void. They said yes. They recorded weeks and weeks of deliberations. Here is the episode about it: www.npr.org/2025/11/26/n...
www.npr.org
November 27, 2025 at 1:38 AM
After USAID got cut, I asked GiveWell if @planetmoney.bsky.social could ride along as they tried to figure out if and how to jump into the void. They said yes. They recorded weeks and weeks of deliberations. Here is the episode about it: www.npr.org/2025/11/26/n...
How have prediction markets shaped reporting? I'm in Dirt Magazine, alongside @weisenthal.bsky.social and Mickey Down www.magazine.dirt.fyi/p/the-signal... @princessdaisy.bsky.social
The Signal is the Noise
The politics of prediction markets.
www.magazine.dirt.fyi
November 26, 2025 at 9:40 PM
How have prediction markets shaped reporting? I'm in Dirt Magazine, alongside @weisenthal.bsky.social and Mickey Down www.magazine.dirt.fyi/p/the-signal... @princessdaisy.bsky.social
Reposted by mary childs
So … are we feeling the tariffs yet? Like, are tariffs hiking prices at grocery stores and coffee shops?
On today’s episode, we get to the bottom of those questions, bust a collectible aardvark doll out of tariff jail and soft launch a soap opera.
buff.ly/y7H6WW6
On today’s episode, we get to the bottom of those questions, bust a collectible aardvark doll out of tariff jail and soft launch a soap opera.
buff.ly/y7H6WW6
npr.org
November 19, 2025 at 3:53 PM
So … are we feeling the tariffs yet? Like, are tariffs hiking prices at grocery stores and coffee shops?
On today’s episode, we get to the bottom of those questions, bust a collectible aardvark doll out of tariff jail and soft launch a soap opera.
buff.ly/y7H6WW6
On today’s episode, we get to the bottom of those questions, bust a collectible aardvark doll out of tariff jail and soft launch a soap opera.
buff.ly/y7H6WW6
the @planetmoney.bsky.social team on what we're grateful for this thanksgiving season www.npr.org/sections/pla... mine is so obvious i'm sorry but it's true!!
8 economic insights we're grateful for
For this Thanksgiving, Planet Money and The Indicator staffers offer economic insights they're grateful for.
www.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:37 PM
the @planetmoney.bsky.social team on what we're grateful for this thanksgiving season www.npr.org/sections/pla... mine is so obvious i'm sorry but it's true!!
it's Books We Love @npr.org day! I got to contribute TWO books this year -- one of them changed the way I think about life, which is what I want from a novel but almost never get.
Books We Love is back with a brand new batch of hand-picked titles. Mix and match tags like “Book Club Ideas” and “Eye-Opening Reads.” Find 380+ new 2025 reads, and stick around to browse more than 4,000 books from the last 13 years.
Books We Love
Here are 380+ great reads from 2025 handpicked just for you by NPR staffers and trusted critics.
n.pr
November 25, 2025 at 2:44 AM
it's Books We Love @npr.org day! I got to contribute TWO books this year -- one of them changed the way I think about life, which is what I want from a novel but almost never get.
Reposted by mary childs
The US has offered $20 billion to Argentina. Congress didn’t authorize it–the money comes from an obscure Treasury slush fund called the Exchange Stabilization Fund. Where did this fund come from? And how likely is this bet on Argentina to pay off?
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
November 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The US has offered $20 billion to Argentina. Congress didn’t authorize it–the money comes from an obscure Treasury slush fund called the Exchange Stabilization Fund. Where did this fund come from? And how likely is this bet on Argentina to pay off?
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
we had our dear @matt-levine.bsky.social on @planetmoney.bsky.social PLUS (our subscription platform) to talk about why Margin Call is the greatest finance movie ever made: www.npr.org/2025/11/18/n...
Is this the greatest finance movie ever? (Planet Money+) : Planet Money
Set early on in the 2008 financial crisis, the film “Margin Call” zeros in on one investment firm and the actions of a handful of key players -- from its CEO to an entry-level risk analyst -- over a t...
www.npr.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
we had our dear @matt-levine.bsky.social on @planetmoney.bsky.social PLUS (our subscription platform) to talk about why Margin Call is the greatest finance movie ever made: www.npr.org/2025/11/18/n...
I think we as journalists must do a better job communicating what it is we do, how it happens and how it doesn't. Emily's thread here is very useful in that direction.
As a former member of NYT’s finance team & the co-author of this story exposing the relationship between Epstein & Bill Gates as well as one on Epstein & JPMorgan, I am really frustrated to see people claiming that NYT sat on publishable info about Trump and Epstein 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/b...
Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times, Despite His Past (Published 2019)
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I think we as journalists must do a better job communicating what it is we do, how it happens and how it doesn't. Emily's thread here is very useful in that direction.
Reposted by mary childs
JOB ALERT! We are hiring a business editor.
You have an unerring instinct for the jugular of the wealthy & powerful? Build a team with me and we’ll get after it!
job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...
You can email me or on Signal at 718-496-5233
You have an unerring instinct for the jugular of the wealthy & powerful? Build a team with me and we’ll get after it!
job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...
You can email me or on Signal at 718-496-5233
Senior Editor, Business
New York City, United States
job-boards.greenhouse.io
November 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
JOB ALERT! We are hiring a business editor.
You have an unerring instinct for the jugular of the wealthy & powerful? Build a team with me and we’ll get after it!
job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...
You can email me or on Signal at 718-496-5233
You have an unerring instinct for the jugular of the wealthy & powerful? Build a team with me and we’ll get after it!
job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...
You can email me or on Signal at 718-496-5233
BAML: the proportion of lower-income households living paycheck to paycheck has been climbing over the past 3y, while the share of middle- & higher-income households living paycheck to paycheck has barely budged -- bc lower-income wage growth has slowed
institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-ins...
institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-ins...
November 11, 2025 at 4:45 PM
BAML: the proportion of lower-income households living paycheck to paycheck has been climbing over the past 3y, while the share of middle- & higher-income households living paycheck to paycheck has barely budged -- bc lower-income wage growth has slowed
institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-ins...
institute.bankofamerica.com/economic-ins...
there's a ship w 23 containers of radioactive zinc dust stuck off the Philippines that can't dock/unload bc no one wants to entomb the zinc dust. this reassurance from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute director somehow isn't that comforting www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
November 11, 2025 at 4:29 PM
there's a ship w 23 containers of radioactive zinc dust stuck off the Philippines that can't dock/unload bc no one wants to entomb the zinc dust. this reassurance from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute director somehow isn't that comforting www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
"The more employers that downsize their stockpile of labor, the more they create the conditions that make it less likely they’ll have to pay up to hire it in the future." andrewsiegler.substack.com/p/the-labor-...
The Labor Market Story
The World Needs Ditch Diggers Too
andrewsiegler.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:46 PM
"The more employers that downsize their stockpile of labor, the more they create the conditions that make it less likely they’ll have to pay up to hire it in the future." andrewsiegler.substack.com/p/the-labor-...
Reposted by mary childs
The typical prison job, like being a cook, pays maybe $0.63 cents per hour. In seven states, people in prison don’t have to be paid at all. But now, some prisoners are earning fair market wages while they’re incarcerated. And the pay… can be six figures.
buff.ly/QuPkrOv
buff.ly/QuPkrOv
November 8, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The typical prison job, like being a cook, pays maybe $0.63 cents per hour. In seven states, people in prison don’t have to be paid at all. But now, some prisoners are earning fair market wages while they’re incarcerated. And the pay… can be six figures.
buff.ly/QuPkrOv
buff.ly/QuPkrOv
Reposted by mary childs
The U.S. has long been the biggest source of remittances worldwide. But with immigration plummeting and the current ICE crackdowns, we try to figure out why remittances are surging in some countries. And why that surge in money sent home inspires joy – but also fear.
The remittance mystery : Planet Money
For decades, the U.S. has been the single biggest source of remittances worldwide. A remittance is a transfer of money, typically from an immigrant to their family in their country of origin. But we…
buff.ly
October 30, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The U.S. has long been the biggest source of remittances worldwide. But with immigration plummeting and the current ICE crackdowns, we try to figure out why remittances are surging in some countries. And why that surge in money sent home inspires joy – but also fear.
Reposted by mary childs
Jamaica’s catastrophe bond has now triggered, said Dana Morris Dixon, minister of education, skills, youth and information.
Jamaica Catastrophe Bond Has Now Triggered, Government Says
Jamaica’s catastrophe bond has now triggered as a result of the fallout from Hurricane Melissa, the government said.
bloom.bg
October 31, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Jamaica’s catastrophe bond has now triggered, said Dana Morris Dixon, minister of education, skills, youth and information.
BofA: fewer and fewer households are paying more and more in childcare costs. The trend is most prominent in lower-income homes -- parents may feel "little choice but to leave their jobs"
institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/...
institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/...
October 30, 2025 at 2:18 PM
BofA: fewer and fewer households are paying more and more in childcare costs. The trend is most prominent in lower-income homes -- parents may feel "little choice but to leave their jobs"
institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/...
institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/...
Reposted by mary childs
This recent preprint on tech industry influence over external research is compelling. Beyond documenting the low rate of industry-funded researchers actually disclosing that fact, the paper points out that journals have routinely waived IRB review for industry work.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
October 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This recent preprint on tech industry influence over external research is compelling. Beyond documenting the low rate of industry-funded researchers actually disclosing that fact, the paper points out that journals have routinely waived IRB review for industry work.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
yes, pigeons pooping on sterile equipment is absolutely a competitive edge and should be preemptively protected as such
October 23, 2025 at 4:18 PM
yes, pigeons pooping on sterile equipment is absolutely a competitive edge and should be preemptively protected as such
Reposted by mary childs
@kentclarkcenter.bsky.social survey of top economists on how firing Fed Gov Lisa Cook would affect inflation risk premia on US debt
kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/infl...
kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/infl...
October 23, 2025 at 1:18 AM
@kentclarkcenter.bsky.social survey of top economists on how firing Fed Gov Lisa Cook would affect inflation risk premia on US debt
kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/infl...
kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/infl...
Reposted by mary childs
Last month I took a trip to the Amazon rainforest to better understand the economics behind deforestation and how to preserve the world’s largest forest.
economist.com/the-americas...
economist.com/the-americas...
The obvious economics of preserving the Amazon
It provides Brazil’s world-beating farmers with water, and keeps carbon locked up for the rest of us
economist.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Last month I took a trip to the Amazon rainforest to better understand the economics behind deforestation and how to preserve the world’s largest forest.
economist.com/the-americas...
economist.com/the-americas...