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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.

Latest Stories (5,837)

Fine art: a playground for the superrich

Dec 8, 2022
Since the blockbuster auction of Paul Allen's collection, the art market might be losing some of the wind in its sails.
David Hockney's "The Conversation," part of the collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. But fine art adviser Lisa Austin thinks a market slowdown may be imminent.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Job gains for people with disabilities are outpacing those for other groups, thanks to telework

Dec 7, 2022
People with disabilities have long asked to work from home, says Nicole Maestas of Harvard. The pandemic proved it can be done.
Increased telework opportunities have allowed people with disabilities to make employment gains.
Christophe Archambault/AFP via Getty Images

Pentagon's weapons buyer on replenishing stockpiles and fortifying supply chains

Dec 6, 2022
"You can't separate" economic and national security, says Undersecretary of Defense William LaPlante.
Kai Ryssdal, left, and Undersecretary of Defense William LaPlante at a contractor's site in California. The disruptions caused by COVID showed that the "just-in-time economy, the minimized inventory — it's not resilient," LaPlante said.
Andie Corban/Marketplace

At The Sports Bra in Portland, it's all women's sports, all the time

Dec 5, 2022
"All we were doing was changing the channel," says Jenny Nguyen, founder and owner of The Sports Bra.
The interior of The Sports Bra, a bar in Portland, Oregon, which shows off flags and paraphernalia from a variety of women's teams.
Courtesy Shannon Dupre

Ending hunger a battle on many fronts, over many months, says CEO of Feeding America

Inflation, supply chain problems and wealth disparities remain barriers to solving hunger, says Claire Babineaux-Fontenot of Feeding America.
Residents of Bronx, New York, received food donations in September. "Making meaningful, sustainable progress by the end of this decade is doable. We have to choose to do it," says Claire Babineaux-Fontenot.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

How the Dutch used technology and vertical farming to became a major food exporter

Dec 1, 2022
The technology allows leafy greens to be grown next to where people will eat them, says Laura Reiley of The Washington Post.
Micro greens grow at a vertical farm in Newark, New Jersey.
Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

PR emails are a given in the publicity business, but do they really work?

Nov 29, 2022
Slate writer Dan Kois said "yes" to most of the publicity emails he got in a single day. In return, he got a firsthand look at how the publicity business works.
"I get a lot of PR emails every day," said Slate writer Dan Kois. "You know, over 100 just sort of roll in."
Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images

Deadline looms for potentially "perilous" nationwide rail strike

Nov 28, 2022
The effects of a work stoppage could be felt as soon as Dec. 5. Many in the private sector are looking to Congress for a solution.
A rail strike could affect energy, wastewater treatment and much more. "Rail companies have been pushed to get those better profit margins, better performance on Wall Street, and .... are trying to use as little equipment and staff as possible," says Rachel Premack of FreightWaves.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

High interest rates mean anxiety for borrowers, but a "great new story" for savers

Nov 22, 2022
Laurie Stewart, CEO of Sound Community Bank in Seattle, says she's seen a "real uptick in demand for deposits."
The Federal Reserve's rate hikes continue, but mortgage rates are trending downward.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Are current climate initiatives unfair to developing nations?

Nov 17, 2022
Rahul Tongia of the Brookings Institution argues that a swift, large-scale energy transition is unrealistic for poor countries, and unnecessary.
Participants arrive Thursday at the COP27 climate conference, where world leaders are discussing plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the impacts of  climate change.
Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images