Show Notes
Let’s head to a small town in Kenya that’s become globally famous for helping economists answer some of the biggest questions facing humanity.
In Kenya and Nigeria, economics isn’t just theory, it’s real life. We’ll look at some radical experiments that turned out to be enormously successful.
What are the building blocks of health, education and prosperity for all? How does a nation grow rich? What is the most effective way to spend a dollar to fight poverty? We find answers in a town that became the laboratory for new concepts in economic research that netted some researchers the most prestigious prize in economics.
Featured Episodes: How randomized trials and the town of Busia, Kenya changed economics (2023) Nigeria, You Win! (2016)
Featured Terms: Randomized controlled trial Human capital Missing middle
Support: Planet Money+
Read: Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life (Audiobook here) Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter Our weekly Indicator link round-up newsletter
Follow: Instagram TikTok YouTube Facebook
The series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Sophia Paliza-Carre. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark. This episode was fact-checked by Leyla Doss, with engineering by Annlie Huang.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
More from Planet Money Summer School
This episode is packed with your best economic ideas from around the world and a penguin interview. It all comes together in this final session of Summer School 2026.
This week’s stop on our world tour - Korea. A country divided into two very different power structures since the end of WWII. Today South Korea is the maker of some of the world’s favorite exports – from Samsung TV’s to BTS. But 75 years ago it was a much different story. How the textile industry and a partnership with Bangladesh lifted the country out of poverty and paved the way for rapid economic growth.
Just about everyone in Argentina is an expert in inflation and whether they like it or not, economic flexibility. Can we learn from them?
Imagine a nation where, for the residents, land is for the claiming. You walk down the street, pick out a nice looking plot of land, and just plop down a marker. No rent, no taxes, no deed – just free land. That’s the communal system of property rights that governed a small Caribbean island for over a century.
Let’s call it the luxury of restraint. This is what enabled Norway to avoid the fate of so many other countries when they discovered oil and it changed the mix of their economy overnight.