Marketplace Weekend®

Back in 2017, we visited three cities: Dalton, Georgia; Gillette, Wyoming; and Corvallis, Oregon. In each place, we met with the mayor and with folks around town, getting a sense of the economy there and how it's changing. We visited carpet factories and coal mines, spoke to students and business owners, and found unique stories of economic change — and how it affects real people and their lives. 

A lot happened in 2017, and we’re returning to one particular natural disaster that changed Puerto Rico from top to bottom. As communities on the island have recovered, there’s a trail of money to follow behind it all. This week, we are revisiting this hourlong special on the economics of disaster. We head to Puerto Rico to examine life on the ground following Hurricane Maria. We look at the debt situation, the realities of life when the lights stay out and what it takes to bring power back. Plus, Puerto Rico's dairy farmers and a surprising boom in renewable energy. Also, recovery in Texas and how Florida is handling an influx of Puerto Ricans fleeing the damage from Hurricane Maria.

This week, we are revisiting an episode that we did on the industry that wants to make a better version of you. The market has been flooded with everything from workout routines to diets to therapy apps and food fads. But have they actually changed the way we feel or the way we invest in our health needs? And who is it that has access to this market? These are the questions on our minds this week. We’ll look at how the term wellness has evolved, why it’s so hard to find mental health services that will take insurance, plus food crazes, food deserts and the economics behind healthy eating.

On this final episode, we talk storm chasing, rent-to-own housing and disability and hiring. Alison Green gives her best advice on asking for vacation time, a Lego engineer talks about how he does his job and our own Lizzie O'Leary takes the Marketplace Quiz. 

Roughly one in five Americans has a disability. Those numbers increase with age and vary across race and gender. And every single one of those people is carving out an economic life. Marketplace is covering the economics of disability in an hourlong special. We can't get to everything in this episode, so we're focusing on some of the pillars of the economy: education, work and health care. Tune in to the episode above to hear stories about how people with disabilities access the economy and share your own stories by visiting us on Facebook or Twitter.