TED Radio Hour

Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in September 2013. Sure, some college degrees lead to higher paying jobs than others. But what's shocking — at least, it was shocking to us — is just how big the gap can be. The most lucrative majors typically lead to jobs with salaries over $100,000 a year. The least lucrative lead to salaries of around $30,000. On today's show, we run the numbers. We talk to people who majored in the most- and least-lucrative subjects...

We spend a lot of time thinking about the future and planning for the future. Fifty years ago, people at the 1964 World's Fair built their vision of the future. They imagined a world of jet-packs, steel, glass, and Formica. And they committed to it in a park in New York City. Today on the show, we visit that park and visit the future as seen from the World's Fair in 1964. And we see how the future actually turned out.

The 100 dollar bill is the most popular product from the Federal Reserve. Eighty percent of all U.S. cash is in the form of 100 dollar bills, but you rarely see them. About twenty years ago, the Fed counted up all the hundreds it knew about — money in bank vaults and cash registers — and it found it had no idea where most of the hundred dollar bills had gone. And so they went on a mission to find them...

Thousands of people in Detroit haven't paid their water bills. Even some businesses have skipped payment. Today on the show, how a bankrupt city is dealing with the most basic of problems — how to get people to pay their bills.

Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in April 2013. In 2012, a federal program took about $60 billion from wealthier Americans and gave it to millions of working poor. This program — a massive redistribution of wealth — has been embraced by every president from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. On today's show, we look at a huge, often overlooked, surprisingly interesting corner of the tax code: The Earned Income Tax Credit...

Super PACs let rich people, corporations and unions spend as much money as they want to try to influence the outcome of elections. On today's show: How a Harvard professor created a super PAC to attack super PACs. He's raised millions of dollars — in part from really rich people — to reduce the political influence of really rich people.

In most parts of the world, refugees are not allowed to work. But Mohammed Osman Ali is a refugee in Uganda, and there, he legally runs a video game arcade and a variety store. Today on the show, why most countries won't let refugees work. And why Uganda is trying something different.

Today we build our show from three short Planet Money stories. We look at when a dollar is not worth a dollar; publishing without a publisher; and, of course, Ikea. For more: * When Ikea Raises Its Minimum Wage, Where Does The Money Come From? * Money Markets: Easy To Ignore, Occasionally Dicey * Self-Published Authors Make A Living — And Sometimes A Fortune

Milk is often in the very back corner of the grocery store, as far as humanly possible from the entrance. It's a strange location for milk, because it's one the most popular items. A common explanation for this location is that by forcing customers to walk through the whole store, they will pass more products and end up purchasing more...

We all know what a sandwich is. It's something delicious, slapped between two slices of bread. But when it comes to taxes, nothing is simple. Today on the show, what regulating sandwiches and all other takeout food tells us about taxation. And how something as simple as the sandwich sales tax ends up spawning a complicated list of definitions, interlocking exemptions and rules which somehow transform the burrito into a sandwich in the eyes of the law.