Segments From This Episode

• A look at this year’s holiday shopping numbers

  by Jeremy Hobson

  According to the NPD Group, shoes rank among the top sellers this holiday season.

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• Taking stock of Dickens on business

  by Christopher Werth

  Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" is usually read with an anti-capitalist bent, but a wider reading of his works show a different picture.

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• Breaking down Santa, Inc.

  by Sally Herships

  Christmas is coming up and needless to say, Santa Claus must be busy. He is, after all, really the world’s ultimate personal shopper. And since Marketplace is a business program, we couldn’t help but wonder what sort of enterprise Santa runs.

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• The Street of Eternal Happiness: China’s ‘Mad Men’

  by Rob Schmitz

  In the latest stop on the Street of Eternal Happiness in Shanghai, a profile of an advertising agency's journey through the lucrative and challenging China market.

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• There are more guns — but fewer gun owners

  by Scott Tong

  The NRA has fewer gun owners to draw on for support, as fewer Americans live in rural areas or serve in the military, and more households are headed by women.

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• Windows 8 sales soft in changing market

  by Dan Bobkoff

  Microsoft launched Windows 8 to capture a share of the touch screen computing market. But PC sales are down and tablet competition is stiff

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• The year in Wealth & Poverty 2012

  by Marketplace Contributor

  A story about striking janitors in Houston sums up the themes covered by the Wealth and Poverty desk in 2012.

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• No toy slump for Lego

  by Jeremy Hobson

  Toy industry analyst Sean McGowan talks about the continued success of toy company Lego, even in 2012.

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