Skip to main content
Planet Money

Summer School 2: How taxes change behavior and the economy

37 min episode · 2 min read
·

Episode

37 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Psychology & Behavior, Economics & Policy

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • How do taxes change individual and corporate behavior?
  • What makes the earned income tax credit so effective?
  • How can Pigouvian taxes address negative externalities like pollution?

What It Covers

Planet Money Summer School explores how taxes reshape behavior and redistribute wealth through progressive taxation, earned income tax credits, and Pigouvian taxes targeting negative externalities.

Key Questions Answered

  • How do taxes change individual and corporate behavior?
  • What makes the earned income tax credit so effective?
  • How can Pigouvian taxes address negative externalities like pollution?

Notable Moment

Derek Hamilton suggests taxing junk mail as a Pigouvian tax, calculating time costs of unwanted correspondence and using revenue to fund recycling programs and libraries.

Know someone who'd find this useful?

You just read a 3-minute summary of a 34-minute episode.

Get Planet Money summarized like this every Monday — plus up to 2 more podcasts, free.

Pick Your Podcasts — Free

Keep Reading

More from Planet Money

We summarize every new episode. Want them in your inbox?

Similar Episodes

Related episodes from other podcasts

Explore Related Topics

This podcast is featured in Best Finance Podcasts (2026) — ranked and reviewed with AI summaries.

You're clearly into Planet Money.

Every Monday, we deliver AI summaries of the latest episodes from Planet Money and 192+ other podcasts. Free for up to 3 shows.

Start My Monday Digest

No credit card · Unsubscribe anytime