The Indicator from Planet Money Greetings from: Our favorite public goods
12 snips
Apr 2, 2026 
Alex Mayyasi, author and Planet Money contributor, offers a whimsical postcard tour of public goods. He spotlights the Large Hadron Collider, GPS satellites, hurricane-hunter planes, safe international shipping, and the Great Green Wall. Short, vivid stops that celebrate the large-scale projects that quietly shape modern life.
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Atomic Clocks Are Foundational Public Goods
- Public goods are services you cannot exclude people from and whose use by more people doesn't diminish them.
- The cesium fountain atomic clocks set national time and enable GPS accuracy, internet reliability, and stable power grids.
Large Hadron Collider Yielded Unexpected Practical Gains
- The Large Hadron Collider is presented as a public good funded by governments for basic science.
- Alex describes how its billion-dollar experiments produced practical spinoffs in magnets and refrigeration that exceeded its cost.
Freedom Of The Seas Lowers Global Shipping Costs
- Freedom of the seas is treated as a public good where many countries cooperate to keep shipping lanes safe.
- Historical interventions from the U.S. and France helped reduce piracy, lowering transport costs and keeping consumer prices down.
