Our mission: Find the world’s best economic ideas (Summer School World Tour)

**NPR** (0:00)
This is Planet Money, from NPR.

**Robert Smith** (0:05)
The world is filled with smart ideas that can help all of us live better lives. And at Planet Money, we haven't just talked about those ideas. We have followed the money around the world. Crossing borders.

**Karen Duffin** (0:17)
Very nice to meet you. I'm Erika. From America.

**NPR** (0:20)
Erika from America.

**Robert Smith** (0:22)
Squeezing into the economy section of airplanes. Ironies.

**Don Brash** (0:26)
If the guy in front of me were to put his seat back, I'd be screwed.

**Robert Smith** (0:30)
Braving the waves of the high seas.

**Karen Duffin** (0:33)
Oh my God. Oh, this is the worst bull ride I've ever been on in my entire life.

**Robert Smith** (0:39)
All of this to meet the people trying to make it in the global economy, from CEOs to a drug dealer in the Netherlands.

**Arthur Grimes** (0:47)
Skrrt, kinds of boys in the building.

**Carly Marriott** (0:50)
Holland, Maastricht, skrrt, bang.

**Robert Smith** (0:53)
This summer, pack a bag, because this time, you're coming along for the ride. Seven continents, eight weeks, 1000 insights.
Welcome back, everyone, to Planet Money Summer School World Tour, the international economics degree that fills your passport and your soul. I'm Robert Smith. This season on Summer School, we are spending our parents' money on a semester abroad. We'll hang out in cafes, learn a few exotic swear words, and we'll study, we'll study a bit. I mean, it is definitely not a vacation, dad. Each Wednesday until Labor Day, we will jet to a different country and meet people like us, facing problems like the ones we face, but coming up with solutions we could never have dreamed of. Then we'll have our very own guide to the country teach us a few economic lessons we can carry back in our carry on. This season, we'll hit China, South Korea, Nigeria, Norway, Argentina, and a few more surprises.
But today we start as far away as you can get from Planet Money headquarters, New Zealand, and Australia. Our guide today is as Aussie as they get.

**Justin Wolfers** (2:15)
Hello. I'm in the middle of breakfast, avocado toast with eggs. It's amazing.

**Robert Smith** (2:22)
Justin Wolfers, economics professor at the University of Michigan and the host of the new YouTube channel and podcast, Platypus Economics. I guess as an Australian, koala economics was already taken.

**Justin Wolfers** (2:36)
The truth is, Robert, I was not ready. Koala-fied to teach that one.

**Robert Smith** (2:43)
Oh no.
When you spend a semester abroad, you have to learn to appreciate the local humor, I guess. Okay, Justin, as our first country guide, you can answer the big question for the entire series. Why spend time looking at how economics works in different countries?

**Justin Wolfers** (3:03)
So the first thing that other countries are, I mean, apart from beautiful places with lovely people, is their laboratories. They're places where other countries are trying different policies, different approaches, and we get to watch how they play out.

**Robert Smith** (3:19)
Which is interesting, right? The principles of economics are the same wherever we go, for every person, every community.
But each country has different demographics, different leadership, different expectations. So who actually benefits from an economic exchange, let's say a market, can be a political choice.

**Justin Wolfers** (3:37)
Political and economic. Which is, markets do stuff, but ultimately, what a market does is all about the rules of the game.
Let me give you an analogy for an American audience. American football is a wonderful game. But if we got rid of the rules, it would be actually kind of a boring athletic spectacle. The rules of the game are what channel enterprise and skill and energy either into something beautiful or into a horrific mess of blokes fighting with each other.

**Robert Smith** (4:10)
So using that metaphor, I guess today we're looking at Australian rules economics, which is a cross between rugby and John Maynard Keynes in short shorts. After our break, our Aussie guide will show us an innovative market for the most important substance on Earth. We'll tell you what it is after the break, and we'll hear from a New Zealand jazz musician who also happened to figure out the way that the US uses to fight inflation.
The Planet Money Summer School Charter Jet has just touched down in New South Wales, Australia. This is the location for our first case study, which is about water, the commodity that keeps all of us alive. Professor Justin Wolfers is with us. Before we hear our case study, what question should our students keep in mind?

**Justin Wolfers** (5:05)
Look, so here's the thing.