How much should a sandwich cost? How about a fast food drink? A gallon of gas? Turns out, behavioral economics shapes how much we think something should cost and explains why it’s hard to adjust those prices for inflation. We also dissect Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole Symposium speech and hear why squashing the last bit of inflation is so tricky.

Nearly every business had to pivot during the pandemic. But domestic manufacturing has been weak for a while now. On today’s show, we hear how businesses in the sector are looking to pivot yet again. Plus: the challenges faced by schools as pandemic funding ends, and the risks around chipmaker Nvidia’s dominance of a very concentrated market. Later: Wordle, but make it global trade.

The theme of this year’s Federal Reserve symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is “Structural Shifts in the Global Economy.” Today, we ask a handful of economists who aren’t sitting around the campfire with Jay Powell to weigh in. Then: Just half of CEOs see climate change as a threat to their business. And later: Could teaching more women poker narrow the boardroom gender gap?

Inflation is cooling and real wages are improving, which is good news. But after losing ground to rising prices for so long, low-income households are struggling to catch up financially, leaving them vulnerable to an economic slowdown. Plus, the U.S. dollar weakens as other countries hike interest rates, and the real estate refrain “you can always refinance” stages a comeback.

Wall Street is zooming in on Nvidia, which reports quarterly earnings this week. The chipmaker’s components power many of the generative artificial intelligence models that have surged in popularity, and its financial results will provide clues about the strength of the industry that runs on its technology. Also on the show: diminishing appetite for U.S. bonds, life in a fire lookout tower and vanishing tattoo ink.

It’s been a summer of record-breaking heat. Today, we’ll head to Houston to hear how a sizzling heat wave is impacting the health of its most vulnerable workers. Also on the show: The 10-year Treasury yield is climbing, as are 401(k) balances. Plus, are American tourists ready for a museum about the economy?

Leading economic indicators are stubbornly pointing to a recession that hasn’t shown up. They’re normally a strong signal that a downturn is on the horizon. Could they be wrong this time around? Then, why child care is likely to get even more expensive, how AI summaries could transform product reviews and how subsidized employment programs could fight racial inequity.

If the Federal Reserve chills inflation without tipping the economy into a recession — known as the elusive “soft landing” — what will that look like and what happens when we get there? We dig into the ideal outcomes. We also take a bite out of three slices of our economy: retail inventories, Fed decision-making and investors’ aversion to risk.

Economists at Goldman Sachs predict that the Federal Reserve could begin to pare back interest rates by the middle of next year. So what kind of economic conditions would warrant such a change after a historic series of hikes? We’ll examine. We also look at the state of the restaurant biz and what happens when you can’t afford to own a car but can’t afford not to.

American consumers keep on spending month after month — even as inflation and rising interest rates chip away at family finances and credit card debt mounts. But after several years of hardship and unpredictability, there’s still a lot to stress about. And it’s got us feeling spendy. Then, how Gen Z and millennials feel about investing and how waste plants pick through unsorted recyclables.