WWE, a very expensive banana, and a quiz contestant

0:01NPR.

0:11This is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong. And I'm Adrienne Ma. And, you know, we thought we would take a little break from the avalanche of news right now and bring you the Indicator Quiz. This is where we test one lucky contestant's knowledge of the topics that we've been covering on the show. And you, dear listener, can also play along. Today on the show, we have Tumvi Goyal. They're an outdoorsy hospitalist in Philly. Hi, Tumvi. Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for having me. Tumvi. I'm so excited. Question for you. What's an outdoor hospitalist? I'm picturing people in surgical scrubs doing surgeries amongst the redwoods.

0:51No, not at all. I love hiking. I love traveling, going to national parks when I'm not working. Oh, sorry. Outdoorsy hospitalist, not an outdoor hospitalist. Are you doing a bit or was this a genuine question? I can't tell. This is not a bit. I literally thought I heard outdoor hospitalist. Whoops. That is so funny. Tumvi, you are indoors with us today because you are going to be playing for your choice of Indicator merch. That's right. You could choose from an Indie the Indicator plushie, a tote bag, a t-shirt. And for those of you playing along at home, all this merch and more is available at shopnpr.org.

1:35But for now, I think it's onward with the quiz. That's after the break. This message comes from NPR sponsor Zendesk. Introducing the next generation of AI agents built to deliver resolutions for everyone. With an easy setup that can be completed in minutes, not months, Zendesk AI agents resolve 30 % of interactions instantly, quickly giving your customers what they need. Loved by over 10 ,000 companies, Zendesk AI makes service teams more efficient, businesses run better, and your customers happier. That's the Zendesk AI effect. Find out more at Zendesk.com. It is indicator quiz time with our guest Tanvi.

2:15And Tanvi, as a reminder, for any and all questions, I can give you a hint if you want it. So if you hit one that you want a hint for, just let me know. Okay. We're going to get rolling with our first segment, which is something we call Alphabet Soup. We're going to name an acronym and you tell us what it stands for. We're going to start with an easy one just to, you know, get the jitters out. Recently, Netflix shelled out$5 billion for the exclusive streaming rights of WWE's weekly flagship show, Monday Night Raw. So what does WWE stand for? A. World Wrestling Entertainment. B. Weirdly Wet Entertainers.

3:00C. World Wrestling Experience. Or D. We Love Economics. So I'm going to go with A, World Wrestling Entertainment. Oh, you are correct. Yay. Now for an acronym that pops up on the indicator from time to time and was most recently in our episode, Men Without College Degrees Aren't Doing Well. This acronym is PCE. So what does PCE stand for? A, personal consumption expenditures. B, Pepsi Coke, Earl Grey is fine. C, price change equilibrium. Or D, people change exchange. I'm going to go with A again, personal consumption expenditures. You are on a roll. That is correct. PCE is personal consumption expenditures.

4:01And now it's on to a round we're calling Test Your Terms. It's a series of fill-in-the-blank questions on economic terms, people, organizations that we've covered in our episodes. Are you ready to test your terms, Tambi? I sure am. Yay! Here it is. There is this term that's been floating around for a couple of decades now. It refers to the aging population in the U.S., especially members of the baby boomer generation. This term has become a popular shorthand for the big wave of cultural and economic changes that stem from this generation getting older. What is this term? Oh, I know this. It's not multiple choice, right?

4:44This one is not multiple choice. Sorry. Okay. Yeah. So I'm going to go with silver tsunami. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Silver tsunami. Tunvi is like an econ trivia tsunami. I know. She's unstoppable. She is unstoppable. Thank you. Thank you. And so we're moving on to the next test your terms question. This is a term we've been covering for years now on The Indicator. Our former co-host Cardiff Garcia was particularly enamored with it. And this term describes when short-term interest rates are higher than long-term interest rates. Historically, that's meant that economic pain, like a recession, is coming.

5:24What is this term? Short-term interest rates.

5:33I'm going to need a hint on this one. Okay, so it's a two-word term. No, it's... The first one... It's a three-word term. It's a three-word term? Yeah. Oh, sorry. Do I work on this show? Okay. It's a three-word term. The second word is a word you might find associated with traffic signs. The third term is a word for something that, like a line that bends without angles. I'm thinking yield curve, but I'm not sure what the first word is. It's a synonym for like upside down. Inverse yield curve. Judges. We're going to give it to you. It's inverted yield curve. You basically had it. Now we are going on to a segment called Name That Voice.

6:40We're going to play a clip and you tell us who it is. And the range of answers can go from U.S. politicians to people across the pop culture spectrum to maybe someone whose voice just made a cameo on the indicator. For this first one, you can just tell us what this guy's job is. You don't have to know his name. These are words I never thought I'd say. Five million dollars for a banana. Five million for a banana. What is this guy's job, do you think? Oh, easy guess is economist, but I remember the episode, But is he an auctioneer? Yes, he is an auctioneer. He's at Sotheby's and he was auctioning off a banana that is a piece of art that ended up being purchased by a crypto entrepreneur.

7:40Big day at Sotheby's and a big day for bananas and contemporary art. And I think it led a lot of us to question what we were doing with our lives.

7:52So that was clip number one. And now we're going to do another Name That Voice. And let's roll the clip. I don't care about my cranes anymore. Just want that June popcorn bucket. June popcorn bucket. So I know that's from SNL. Do I have to name the actor or person? Do you have a guess? It's Ethan something, right? The actor here is Bowen Yang. But you know, we're going to give it to you because you knew that it was from Saturday Night Live. And that was the clip of a song about the viral Dune popcorn bucket. And we did a whole episode about the growth in novelty popcorn buckets and what it means for, like, the American box office and why movie theater chains are getting into these.

8:45So, Tanvi, you did amazing. Yay, thank you. Yay! And, of course, who really does this for the knowledge? We're here for the merch, right? So, do you know, like, what prize you want? Let's do the T-shirt. You want to go out there and advertise your indicator love to the world. Yeah, advertise to the world because it's so amazing. We love to hear it. Tanvi, thank you for repping the indicator and for being an amazing contestant. Thank you so much. I had so much fun and it's so cool to meet you. I'm a huge fan. The pleasure is all ours. Later this week, we will be asking, will egg prices ever come down?

9:30And we'll be looking at how what's happening at USAID is affecting American farmers. this episode was produced by Angel Carreras and engineered by Sina Lafredo it was fact checked by Sierra Juarez Hattie Hirsch edited this episode Kicking Canyon is our show's editor and The Indicator is a production of NPR bye