Planet Money is an American podcast and blog produced by NPR, in association with Chicago Public Media, producers of the program This American Life. Using "creative and entertaining" dialogue and narrative, Planet Money claims to be "The Economy Explained". The length of the podcasts ranges between 6-30 minutes. Planet Money uses abridged narratives to tackle popular complex topics like American health care or insider trading, to make economic journalism approachable to audiences that are interested in learning more about popular economic issues without an academic background in economics. The episodes are typically stand-alone. The interviewees or guest range from academic experts, business professionals or general members of the North American public. Providing listeners with primary source material, the podcast's host contributes contextual framing and commentary. The intimate stories are used as a leading thread and use commonplace language with entertaining plots to describe abstract or complex economic and political issues. This method of entertainment translates political or economic topics, that were historically dependent on academic language and higher education, to stories that engage the general public. This technique allows for larger and/or younger audiences while continuing to maintain contact with original markets by drawing from popular topics within North American culture.