The White House hosts a summit Thursday about youth sports and concussions. We take a look at the money and technology going into equipment and tests that can help diagnose concussions almost immediately after a player is injured. Plus, guess who wants to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Not Poland, Sweden, or Germany. The $51 billion price tag of Sochi is a reminder that the Winter Games create an avalanche of public debt. Even Switzerland voted down an Olympics referendum. What’s at stake as the International Olympic Committee tries to find a suitable suitor? Then, as part of our new series LearningCurve on the intersection of education and technology, we provide a history of educational radio. Then after, we talk to Chris Farrell about why he thinks the U.S. should welcome more refugees into the country and what impact such a move might have on the U.S. economy. 

A U.S. Chamber of Commerce delegation heads to Cuba this week to examine their current economic state. We look at the building pressure on the Obama Administration to ease the economic restrictions on Cuba. Plus, we take a look at attempts to pin down the ingredients for Hummus once and for all…by companies who don’t make good hummus. And then, we discuss high speed trading. We talk to Donald Bollerman, head of operations at IEX, about high speed trading and efforts to level the playing field. Then, we talk to David about the new Marketplace Learning Curve education initiative.  

The American Enterprise Institute says there is much risk in the mortgage market.  On Tuesday, the Institute releases its monthly update of  what it calls its National and State Mortgage Risk Indices.  AEI says the indices provide the first-ever measure of how mortgage loans originated month by month would perform under severely stressed conditions. And, this is hurricane preparedness week and in populated coastal areas like New York City, preparing for hurricanes has posed some technological challenges. Meanwhile, there is a long waitlist for people seeking treatment for drug addiction. The ACA has had an impact on those on waitlists for drug treatment that may change that.

In an effort to secure its merger with Time Warner Cable, Comcast has hired 40 firms to lobby federal regulators. Also, earlier this year, New York governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled plans to create a publicly-funded college program for inmates in the state’s prisons. The idea was that recidivism rates are lower among inmates who participate in education programs, and having an education would help inmates be better prepared to find jobs when they got out.  We look at the Bard Prison Initiative, the largest prison education program in the country—looking at what the program entails, what kind of successes and failures its had, and what are the economic upsides and downsides. 

Round five of the EU-US talks are coming to an end.  But how have recent world events colored the conversation? And what’s at stake for US products like autos and natural gas? Plus,  back in the UK, we report on the history of the sewers of London and uncover their current plans to build a super sewer system there. Then later, we talk to the BBC’s Andrew Walker about David Cameron’s attempts to bring business from China to the UK and his goal of having London be one of the great capitals of Islamic Finance.

Best Buy reports earnings on Thursday, and sales are expected to rebound after a dismal holiday season. The big reason? Online shopping is up 20 percent in the U.S. We look at how Best Buy’s increased focus on e-commerce to compete with Amazon. Plus, Chicago is in the battle to land the new Star Wars museum — but competition is stiff. To what extent is Chiacgo’s economy based on tourism dollars? And what sort of difference could landing this sort of museum make? Back to London — realtors in one of its toniest districts boast that business is booming. The dramatic price rises of recent years have spread to most areas of the city. That leaves many wannabe homebuyers unable to buy a home.  Realtors want the buoyant market to continue but some Londoners are hoping the bubble bursts. 

JPMorgan has planned to direct $100 million in investments at Detroit for homes, businesses and job training. What’s the bank’s goal in doing so and how much will this help? Plus, T-Mobile, already a favorite of Latinos in the U.S., is partnering with Univision to offer a phone service customized for Latino customers. Then, we head back to London where we discuss the massive influence wielded by London’s Stock Exchange, a rival to New York as the  number one financial center on the planet, and examine how this came about and whether London can maintain its current disproportionate status as a global financial hub. We also look at the increased use of food banks in London and a dramatic rise in use by members of the middle and upper classes who have lost jobs or can’t cope with their bills anymore.    

We investigate the Latin American angle of the AT&T-DirecTV deal – how the stalling growth of satellite in markets like the U.S. makes developing markets more attractive and the challenges inherent in that strategy. Plus, on Tuesday, President Obama hosts business leaders at the White House to tout “SelectUSA, ” an initiative started in 2011 to offset companies leaving the U.S. for foreign tax shelters. Conrad looks at the “tools in the toolkit” — What are the carrots, what are the sticks, to bring and keep business in the U.S.? (Tentative angle)

We take peek at the Chronicle of Education’s latest survey on executive compensation at public universities. Coaches clearly rule here. Plus, Monday marks the start of a robotics competition at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. College students have to build and design a robot that could work on Mars (ALTERNATIVE dig lunar soil). Conrad Wilson reports on how competitions help foster innovation and can even bring ideas to market. Then, Marketplace goes to London! London’s wealth is more unevenly distributed than that of any other city in the developed world. That’s partly because of an influx of mega-rich Arabs, Chinese and Russians. Stephen visits the rich Russian owner of a wine store in the wealthy Mayfair district who sells single bottles of wine for $180,000. We explore how London’s rich perceive the wealth gap. We will also be talking to U.S. citizen and former board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, Jamison Firestone, about cooling business ties between London and Russia.