This week the Benchmark team takes a look at one of South Korea's most promising new exports: beauty products. Seoul is pivoting away from the country's reliance on government-sponsored companies like Samsung and LG and instead attempting to capitalize on its multi-generation tradition of expensive, multi-step skincare regimens. Women - and men - around the world are buying into the trend, helping overseas beauty sales for Korean beauty products to rise 73 last year. Co-hosts Kate Smith and Scott Lanman are joined by Nina Bahadur, a senior editor at Conde Nast, and Alicia Yoon, founder of the cult K-beauty e-commerce company Peach and Lily, to see just how much fancy face creams are helping South Korea's economy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As much as economics permeates our lives, the concepts behind the subject can often be rather dry. Fortunately, the smash Broadway musical "Hamilton" takes some of those concepts and sets them to catchy hip-hop tunes. Matt Rousu, an economics professor at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, is already creating lessons for his students based on some of the musical's songs as well as numbers in other Broadway shows. Scott Lanman and Dan Moss break down some of the music with Matt and find the connections between the songs and talking about the Federal Reserve -- who knew?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now that slavery, of all things, has popped up as one of the weirder talking points in the bizarre U.S. presidential campaign, we figured it might be time to examine just how much of a link slavery -- and everything it connotes -- has to do with international economics. And yes, we did get into Brazil just last week, but with the Olympics starting this month, what better region to focus on than Latin America? Join Dan Moss and Kate Smith, along with Sao Paulo-born Vivianne Rodrigues, who runs economic and government news in the region, as we discuss why some nations clung so long to plantation-based economies that they lagged in making the leap to industrialization.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police strikes, threats of Zika and a $20 billion tab: Welcome to the 2016 Summer Olympics games in Brazil. But Rio's position isn't just matter of bad luck. It was actually self-imposed. Every four years countries vie to be the next host of the summer Olympics, despite cautionary tales of unnecessary stadium spending from places like Montreal and Athens. What is it about sports that make otherwise rational politicians make irrational decisions? To help answer that question, Dan and Kate are joined this week by Neil deMause, an expert in the world of publicly financed sports facilities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No one thinks the Fed is going to raise interest rates at its next meeting. Chair Janet Yellen isn't scheduled to hold a press conference, and there won't be any new rate projections from Fed officials. So what should you look for when the central bank issues its statement on Wednesday? In this special bonus episode, reporters Chris Condon and Jeanna Smialek join host Scott Lanman to tell you the five things you need to know to become an expert translator of the next iteration of Fed-speak.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How would the U.S. economy fare under President Donald J. Trump? Hosts Scott Lanman and Kate Smith journey one year into the future to track the Benchmark podcast from July 21, 2017. Joning them is Neil Dutta from Renaissance Macro Partners, who helps explain just what's happened during Trump's first six months -- and we also learn just how crazy this Pokemon Go thing has gotten.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China wasn't on the ballot when U.K. citizens made the surprise decision to leave the European Union. But it has played a major role in the forces of globalization that Britons rebelled against with their vote in June. How does one connect the dots from Deng Xiaoping's opening up of the Chinese economy in 1978 to Brexit in 2016? Marc Champion, a reporter for Bloomberg News in London, joins Dan and new co-hosts Kate Smith and Scott Lanman to talk all about it -- once Scott stops showing off his Mandarin skills.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the U.S. to the U.K., immigration and its consequences are flaring up as never before. But how exactly do they shape the economy, and how are native workers affected when immigrants enter the labor force? For answers to these questions as well as a frank discussion on where policy should go from here, Tori and Aki talk to Giovanni Peri, a professor at the University of California at Davis and one of the top economists in the field of human migration.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drug companies and researchers have made huge advances in recent years to treat cancer, possibly the world's leading cause of death. And more breakthroughs are likely. But it will come with a big price tag, and getting all the way to a cure will be tricky. What does it all have to do with the global economy? And what's a moonshot, anyway? Dr. Louis Weiner, director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, explains it all to Dan Moss and guest host Scott Lanman, who has a deep personal connection to the topic at hand.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why is Norway attracting attention in a post-Brexit Britain? Saleha Mohsin, who followed Norwegian politics and economics for Bloomberg, joins Dan Moss to explain `EU Decaf.' How does it work and how is it different, if at all, than being a full member of the EU? You get freedom of goods, services, capital and -- critically -- labor. Norway even contributes to the EU budget! Yet Norwegians are happy with EU Decaf. Oh, and an EU referendum was defeated there as well. Twice.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.