{"podcast":{"title":"Decoder Ring","slug":"decoder-ring-232078","podcast_index_feed_id":232078,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/696572d375c092ac4e159c27","website_url":"https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/696572d375c092ac4e159c27/show-cover.jpg","author":"Slate Podcasts","episode_count":156,"summary":"Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-17T16:21:53.588125+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/decoder-ring-232078"},"episode":{"title":"How to Make Dollars Make Sense","slug":"how-to-make-dollars-make-sense","published_at":"2026-04-22T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/decoder-ring-232078/how-to-make-dollars-make-sense","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/decoder-ring-232078","url":"https://shows.acast.com/decoder-ring/episodes/how-to-make-dollars-make-sense","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/696572d375c092ac4e159c27/e/69e7d76d17df632b85fb2d94/media.mp3","summary":"Money is everywhere. Money influences just about everything. We think about money all the time. But how much do we really know about it? In this episode of Decoder Ring, we explore the obscure historical forces that make our money what it is and behave the way it does. We ask two simple-sounding questions with surprising answers: Why is our money called the dollar—and where are those dollars really coming from?  First, you’ll hear from Brendan Greeley , a veteran finance reporter turned economic historian, and author of the new book, The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World’s Most Powerful Money . Then, we get help from Mark Blyth , a political economist at Brown University who teaches about the architecture and plumbing of global finance. This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Max Freedman and produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd and Supervising Producer Evan Chung. Merritt Jacob is our Senior Technical Director. Thank you to Lizzie O’Leary. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281. Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Money is everywhere. Money influences just about everything. We think about money all the time. But how much do we really know about it? In this episode o…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2077,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/decoder-ring-232078/episodes/how-to-make-dollars-make-sense/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/decoder-ring-232078/how-to-make-dollars-make-sense.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}