Summer School 8: Big ideas and life lessons from Marx, Keynes and Smith and more

Take the 2024 Planet Money Summer School Quiz here to earn your personalized diploma!

Find all the episodes from this season of Summer School here. And past seasons here. And follow along on TikTok here for video Summer School.

We are assembled here on the lawn of Planet Money University for the greatest graduation in history – because it features the greatest economic minds in history. We'll hear from Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and some surprising guests as they teach us a little bit more economics, and offer a lot of life advice.

But first, we have to wrap up our (somewhat) complete economic history of the world. We'll catch up on the last fifty years or so of human achievement and ask ourselves, has economics made life better for us all?

And then take the quiz and get your diploma!

Tag us on social media when you post your diploma so we can celebrate with you! We're @planetmoney on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

This series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Audrey Dilling. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Sofia Shchukina.

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NPR Source Audio – "Lost Situation," "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 Allegro con molto," "Ancient Power," "Aida Opera March," and "We Didn't Start the Fire (Instrumental)" by Billy Joel.