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Kai Ryssdal

Host and Senior Editor

SHORT BIO

Kai is the host and senior editor of “Marketplace,” the most widely heard program on business and the economy — radio or television, commercial or public broadcasting — in the country. Kai speaks regularly with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, startup entrepreneurs, small-business owners and everyday participants in the American and global economies. Before his career in broadcasting, Kai served in the United States Navy and United States Foreign Service. He’s a graduate of Emory University and Georgetown University. Kai lives in Los Angeles with his wife and four children.

Episodes by Kai (6,145)

Marketplace

The DOJ has a plan for Google

Nov 21, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1290

The new face of Trump's tariffs plan

Nov 21, 2024
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Marketplace

What happened to sweater weather?

Nov 20, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1289

A harbinger of change in Medialand 

Nov 20, 2024
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Marketplace

Private equity's appetite for restaurants

Nov 19, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1288

The myth America exported to the world

Nov 19, 2024
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Marketplace

A more equal nation?

Nov 18, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1287

Trump's revenge agenda

Nov 18, 2024
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Marketplace

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... online

Nov 15, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1285

Whaddya wanna know about a second Trump term?

Nov 14, 2024
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Latest Stories (5,837)

The LA distillery ginning up business in the non-alcoholic spirit market

by Kai Ryssdal and Sean McHenry
Feb 22, 2023
In 2022, over two-thirds of Greenbar Distillery's sales were in the non-alcoholic market. For owners Litty Mathew and Melkon Khosrovian, that means that non-alcoholic drinks are going to be part of their future.
Greenbar Distillery has been making spirits in downtown Los Angeles for nearly 19 years, but now the company is taking on a new market: non-alcoholic spirits.
Sean McHenry/Maketplace
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For online shoppers, is too much variety a blessing or a curse?

by Kai Ryssdal
Feb 21, 2023
With thousands of items and products to choose from, consumers need to protect themselves from making the wrong purchase.
Sifting through the thousands of product choices online is getting harder.
Tom Cooper/Getty Images
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Raising the Debt Ceiling

Why comparing government and household spending doesn't quite work

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban
Feb 16, 2023
It's like comparing apples and oranges, professor Golnaz Motie says, because the government has many more tools and huge immediate obligations.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has compared the federal debt ceiling to a household's credit limit.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
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At the Federal Games Guild, video games and public policy play together

by Kai Ryssdal and Sean McHenry
Feb 14, 2023
Want to balance the federal budget? A video game lets you do it. Elizabeth Newbury of the Federal Games Guild and Wilson Center explains.
"You're not going to get the same thing from reading a 25-page policy brief as you'll get from a game, but more people — I bet — will play my game," the FGG's Elizabeth Newbury says.
Courtesy Department of Education
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What would it take to balance the federal budget?

by Kai Ryssdal and Sarah Leeson
Feb 8, 2023
You need the courage to make cuts, the wisdom to negotiate and luck, says Linda Bilmes, who worked in the Clinton administration.
In the last half-century, only two presidents have balanced the federal budget: Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton, above with Vice President Al Gore.
Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images
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How the "new guys" of NASA's Group 8 opened up space travel to the rest of us

by Kai Ryssdal and Sarah Leeson
Feb 7, 2023
In the 1970s, NASA welcomed women and minority astronauts for the first time. Meredith Bagby's new book explores the impact that they made in the world of space travel.
As the first women and minorities in America's space program, NASA's Group 8 — some of whom are seen here — were a whole new face for space travel.
NASA/AFP via Getty Images
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Why are boutiques and coffee shops selling the same olive oil and tinned fish?

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban
Feb 2, 2023
Those pantry brands aren't as small as consumers think, says writer Emily Sundberg. Wholesaler Faire is "the Oz behind the curtain."
If you've noticed boutiques or coffee shops offering a selection of artisanal pantry basics, there's a chance they're all being purchased from the same wholesale marketplace.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Extreme couponing is back. But it's on TikTok this time.

by Kai Ryssdal and Sarah Leeson
Feb 1, 2023
Clipping coupons may be largely digital now, but the deals are still out there. Kayla Burk is teaching a younger generation how to use them.
Kayla Burk, a full-time extreme couponer, makes TikTok explainer videos on how to get discounts.
Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
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Economists are predicting a recession. Does that really mean we'll have one?

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban
Jan 30, 2023
We take a look inside the world of economic forecasting and ask whether predictions are reliable.
Economists at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan expect a recession this year but describe it as "modest" and "mild."
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Raising the Debt Ceiling

Breaking down the $31.4 trillion national debt

by Kai Ryssdal and Maria Hollenhorst
Jan 27, 2023
There are public holders and government agencies, which all comes into play in the congressional debt ceiling battle.
The national debt is made up of two big pieces — intragovernmental holdings and IOUs held by the public. Above, the U.S. Capitol dome seen through a glass ceiling.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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