The Indicator from Planet Money

Episode•February 17, 2025•9 min

WWE, a very expensive banana, and a quiz contestant

It's time for The Indicator Quiz! We test you, dear listener, on your knowledge of topics that we've covered on The Indicator. Today's quiz is an economic smorgasbord, ranging from the WWE to the silver tsunami. Play along with us and see how you do! Are you interested in being a contestant on our next Indicator Quiz? Email us your name and phone number at indicator@npr.org and put "Indicator Quiz" in the subject line. Related episodes: AI Tupac, sin taxes, and a soon-to-be college sophomore (Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/indicator-quiz-may-edition/id1320118593?i=1000657339830) / Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/3FjgRw82WLml8pZ3yFTFJJ?si=Kbd4iES1Q1-0T8eSUpPffQ)) For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org (http://plus.npr.org/). Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez (https://www.npr.org/people/g-s1-26724/sierra-juarez). Music by Drop Electric (https://dropelectric.bandcamp.com/). Find us: TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@planetmoney), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/planetmoney/), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/planetmoney), Newsletter (https://www.npr.org/newsletter/money). CORRECTION: In this episode we referred to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and PCE (Personal consumption expenditures) as acronyms, which is incorrect; they are initialisms, a type of abbreviation that uses the first letters of words in a phrase but, unlike acronyms, is spoken with the individual letters. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below: See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices) NPR Privacy Policy (https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy)

Apple Podcasts Overcast

Transcript

0:01

Npr.

0:12

This is the Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong.

0:14

And I'm Adrienne Ma.

0:16

And, you know, we thought we would take a little break from the avalanche of news right now and bring you the Indicator quiz.

0:23

This is where we test one lucky contestant's knowledge of the topics that we've been covering on the show. And you, dear listeners, can also play along.

0:31

Today on the show, we have Tanvi Goyal. They're an outdoorsy hospitalist in Philly. Hi, Tanvi. Hi, everyone.

0:38

Thank you so much for having me. Tanvi, I'm so excited.

0:42

Question for you. What's an outdoor hospitalist? I'm picturing, like, people in, like, surgical scrubs doing surgeries amongst the redwoods.

0:52

No, not at all.

0:53

I just.

0:53

I love hiking. I love traveling, going to national parks when I'm not working.

0:58

Oh, sorry. Outdoorsy hospitalist, not an outdoor hospitalist.

1:02

Are you doing a bit, or was this a genuine question? I can't tell.

1:07

This is not a bit. This is. I literally thought I heard Outdoor hospitalist. Whoops.

1:13

That is so funny. Tumbi, you are indoors with us today because you are going to be playing for your choice of indicator merch.

1:22

That's right. You could choose from an indie, the Indicator Plushie. A, A tote bag, a T shirt.

1:28

And for those of you playing along at home, all this merch and more is available@shopnpr.org but for now, I think it's onward with the quiz.

1:38

That's after the break.

1:42

It is indicator quiz time with our guest, Tanvi.

1:44

And, Tanvi, as a reminder, for any and all questions, I can give you a hint if you want it. So if you hit one that you want a hint for, just let me know.

1:54

Okay, we're gonna get rolling with our first segment, which is something we call Alphabet soup. We're going to name an acronym, and you tell us what it stands for. We're gonna start with an easy one just to, you know, get the jitters out. Recently, Netflix shelled out $5 billion for the exclusive streaming rights of WWE's weekly flagship show, Monday Night Raw. So. So what does WWE stand for? A, World Wrestling Entertainment. B, Weirdly Wet Entertainers, C, World Wrestling Experience, Or D, we Love Economics.

2:38

So I'm gonna go with A. World Wrestling Entertainment.

2:43

Oh, you are correct.

2:46

Yay.

2:48

Now for an acronym that pops up on the indicator from time to time and was most recently in our episode, Men Without College Degrees Aren't Doing well. This acronym is pce. So what does PCE stand for? A Personal Consumption expenditures. B, Pepsi, Coke, Earl Grey is fine. C, price change equilibrium or D, people change exchange.

3:18

I'm going to go with A again. Personal consumption expenditures.

3:24

You are on a roll. That is correct. PCE is personal consumption expenditures. And now it's on to around. We're calling test your terms. It's a series of fill in the blank questions on economic terms, people, organizations that we've covered in our episodes. Are you ready to test your terms, tamb?

3:44

I sure am.

3:46

Yay. Here it is. There is this term that's been floating around for a couple of decades now. It refers to the aging population in the U.S. especially members of the baby boomer generation. This term has become a popular shorthand for the big wave of cultural and economic changes that stem from this generation getting older. What is this term?

4:10

Oh, I know this. It's not multiple choice, right?

4:13

This one is not multiple choice. Sorry.

4:15

So, yeah, so I'm gonna go with Silver tsunami.

4:20

Oh, my gosh, yes. Silver tsunami.

4:23

Tanvi is like an econ trivia tsunami.

4:26

I know. She's unstoppable. She's unstoppable.

4:30

Thank you.

4:31

And so we're moving on to the next test your terms question. This is a term we've been covering for years now on the indicator. Our former co host, Cardiff Garcia was particularly enamored with it. And this term describes when short term interest rates are higher than long term interest rates. Historically, that's meant that economic pain, like a recession, is coming. What is this term?

4:57

Short term interest rates. I'm going to need a hint on this one.

5:05

Okay, so it's a two word term.

5:08

No, it's.

5:09

It's the first one.

5:10

It's a three word term.

5:12

It's a three word term.

5:13

Yeah.

5:15

Oh, sorry, I do. I work on this, Joe. Okay. It's a three word term. The second word is a word you might find associated with traffic signs. The third term is a word for something that, like a line that bends without angles.

5:46

I'm thinking yield curve, but I'm not sure what the first word is.

5:51

It's a synonym for like upside down.

5:55

Inverse yield curve.

5:57

Judges,

6:00

we're gonna give it to you. It's inverted yield curve. You basically had it. Now, we are going on to a segment called Name that Voice. We're gonna play a clip and you tell us who it is. And the range of answers can go from us politicians to people across the pop culture spectrum to maybe someone whose voice just made a cameo on the indicator for this first one. You can just tell us what this guy's job is. You don't have to know his name.

6:29

Okay, These are words I never thought I'd say.

6:31

$5 million for a banana. 5 million for a banana. What is this guy's job, do you think?

6:41

Oh, easy guess. Is economist. But I. Oh, I. I remember the episode. But is he a auctioneer?

6:57

Yes, he is an auctioneer. He's at Sotheby's, and he was auctioning off a banana. That is a piece of art that ended up being purchased by a crypto entrepreneur. Big day at Sotheby's and a big day for bananas and contemporary art.

7:15

And I think it led a lot of us to question what we were doing with our lives.

7:22

So that was clip number one. And now we're gonna do another. Name that voice and let's roll the clip.

7:30

I don't care about my dreams anymore? Just want that dune popcorn bucket. Dune popcorn bucket. So I know that's from snl. Do I have to name the actor or person?

7:47

Do you have a guess?

7:50

It's Ethan something. Right?

7:52

The actor here is Bowen Yang. But, you know, we're gonna give it to you because you knew that it was from Saturday Night Live. And that was the clip of a song about the viral dune popcorn bucket. And we did a whole episode about the growth in novelty popcorn buckets and what it means for, like, the American box office and why movie theater chains are getting into these. So, Tanvi, you did amazing.

8:17

Yay.

8:18

Thank you.

8:19

Yay.

8:21

And, of course, who really does this for the knowledge? We're here for the merch. Right. So do you know, like, what prize you want?

8:32

Mm, let's do the T shirt.

8:34

You wanna go out there and advertise your indicator? Love to the world.

8:37

Yeah, Advertise to the world. Cause it's so amazing.

8:41

We love to hear it. Tanvi, thank you for repping the Indicator and for being an amazing contestant.

8:48

Thank you so much. I had so much fun, and it's so cool to meet you. I'm a huge fan.

8:52

The pleasure's all ours. Later this week, we will be asking, will egg prices ever come down? And we'll be looking at how what's happening at USAID is affecting American farmers. This episode was produced by Angel Carreras and engineered by Sina Lofredo. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez how Hattie Hirsch edited this episode. Cake and Cannon is our show's editor. And the Indicator is a production of NPR by.

WWE, a very expensive banana, and a quiz contestant

0:00

0:00

Related Episodes

Target, Klarna and Sesame Street's new addy

Target, Klarna and Sesame Street's new addy

May 23, 20259 min

TargetKlarnaSesame Street

Why Netflix spent billions for WWE

Why Netflix spent billions for WWE

Jan 7, 20258 min

NetflixWWEMonday Night Raw