Unsung Indicators

By Stacey Vanek Smith,

Cardiff Garcia

Published April 12, 2018 at 4:16 PM EDT

The tax cuts, a government that almost shuts down before passing a big spending bill, a tanking stock market, the risk of trade wars (not to mention real wars), and even bad weather — it's been exhausting to keep up with the news flow these past few months.

But worry not. The Indicator goes back to its roots for this episode and presents you with three economic indicators that we think don't get enough attention — indicators that let you filter out the daily clatter and understand the trends that really matter.

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Stacey Vanek Smith

Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money. She's also a correspondent for Planet Money, where she covers business and economics. In this role, Smith has followed economic stories down the muddy back roads of Oklahoma to buy 100 barrels of oil; she's traveled to Pune, India, to track down the man who pitched the country's dramatic currency devaluation to the prime minister; and she's spoken with a North Korean woman who made a small fortune smuggling artificial sweetener in from China.

See stories by Stacey Vanek Smith