#117 Planet Money: Did The Cash Bring The Clunkers?

Jeremy Anwyl, the chief executive of Edmunds.com, defends his company's latest report about the effectiveness of the much-hyped and recently closed Cash for Clunkers program. Edmunds found the program added only 125,000 in sales at a cost of $3.5 billion, or $24,000 per new car.

But Austin Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economist currently serving as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, doesn't think those numbers are right. His analysis puts the number of Cash for Clunkers sales closer to 450,000.