How to make $35 trillion ... disappear

is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darian Woods. Today on the show, a conversation with Geeta Gopinath about the possible erasure of $35 trillion from the global economy.

Economist Geeta Gopinath joined me from her Harvard recording studio late November.

Looks like a very serious microphone there.

So today I want to explore how the US Stock market could mean trouble for the rest of the world. And to set the scene, can you describe what's been behind the US stock market's pretty big increase over 2025?

The magnificent seven companies are Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Google, Nvidia and Tesla. They're investing heavily in AI.

So what's keeping you awake at night?

Yeah, this is the Cape ratio. We've actually talked a bit about this on the show before.

And so if the American stock market is in some kind of bubble and it pops, what's a scenario that might happen?

if the stock market were to do what happened in the dot com bust, the stock market would crash quite a bit and cause households to spend less and then that would translate into going from a growing economy to a stagnant economy.

And so it's interesting that this is a US problem with huge US effects, What could that look like for other countries?

So you've succeeded in scaring me quite a lot. But on the flip side of this argument, could it be premature to raise an alarm over a potential bubble? Is it possible that investors will miss out on huge gains if, for example, AI is as transformative as promised?

And are we seeing other countries starting to reduce their exposure to the US as well?

So when you're at dinner parties, how do people react to your scenarios of potential doom?

Well, Geeta Gopinath, you have left me more worried than when I started, but thank you so much for joining the Indicator.

This episode was produced by Cooper Katz McKim with engineering by Robert Rodriguez. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez. Cake and Cannon edits the show. And the Indicator is a production of npr. Hey, it's Darian woods here. I just want to take a moment to talk about the vital role of public media. It was founded to provide news and information to everybody for free, regardless of anybody's ability to pay. We still believe in the mission of public media at npr, but as of this fall, federal funding for public media, including NPR and local NPR stations, has been eliminated. Despite that, we remain committed to this work to go beyond the headlines to show you how the economy affects your life. Just this year, we've done a bunch of big series on how batteries are changing the electric grid, on the business of crime, and the changing economics of Hollywood in 2026. With your help, we can do even more. Thank you. If you already go the extra mile as an NPR supporter. If not, you can join the PLUS community, get a bunch of perks like bonus episodes from across NPR's podcasts, and support public media by signing up for NPR today. Just go to plus.NPR.org.