Million Bazillion

Back in Robin Hood’s day, tax-collecting sheriffs forced people to pay money to a king, who decided how those taxes were spent. These days our tax system works a bit differently. We get to vote for people who’ll spend that money on things we care about — like schools and libraries, health care for elderly people, police, parks, sewers and so on. With the help of a rambling troubadour and a tax policy expert, Jed and Bridget teach Robin Hood that the way tax dollars are spent today reflects what we prioritize as a society. Plus, we’ll ask random kids some not-so-random questions.

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Keep sending us your questions about money at marketplace.org/million!

This week we’re tracking down answers to a bunch of your questions about why money looks the way it does. A lot of you were curious about stuff like why American money is green, why other countries have more colorful currency, and who decides whose picture goes on each bill. We’ll get you all those answers — and more! Plus, we’ll meet a museum’s money curator, learn about the way money art protects us from fakes and think about how we’d design our own money ... if anyone asked us.

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When banks first started thousands of years ago, they were known as places to borrow money, not to keep your own money safe. Through loans, they’d provide funding to farmers or traders to help them with a project — like building a fence or traveling to another country. Borrowers often had to leave something valuable with the bank until they paid off the loan. To keep all that valuable stuff safe, banks became supersecure. That made them great places for everyday folks to deposit their money.

This week, we’ll learn about the history of banks and how they work today and why they don’t work for all of us. Our old friend Bill Maurer will help us sort it all out, while Jed and Bridget see if they have what it takes to run their own bank.

Don’t forget to send us your questions about money at Marketplace.org/million!

Companies need money to grow, and there’s a way for them to get it: the stock market. They can sell a little piece of their company, called a share or stock, to regular people. If the company grows, those people get to keep some of the money it makes. Of course, there’s no guarantee that a company will grow — that’s what makes putting your money in the stock market risky. On this week’s episode, we’ll explain how it all works with the help of some Dutch spice traders, comfy sneakers, a bull ... and a bear! Got a money problem? Tell us about it at Marketplace.org/million.

For our very first episode, we’re traveling back thousands of years to learn about all the ways people got what they needed from each other before money was invented: bartering with whatever they had, making pacts with close friends and eventually inventing coins and other forms of money! Plus we’ll ask some random kids not-so-random questions, and Kristen Bell designs her own money.

By the way, we want to keep answering your questions about money! Send your questions and your money designs to Marketplace.org/million.