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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)

Is this what the “metaverse” looks like?

Jun 1, 2022
“Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal takes a guided tour of a virtual world.
Kai Ryssdal explores a simulated conference room using a virtual reality headset.
Screenshot/Marketplace

Why the U.S. stopped researching gun violence: "It's a thing that has set us back decades"

May 31, 2022
John Woodrow Cox of The Washington Post explains how a 1996 legal provision effectively halted research on gun violence.
Flowers and crosses memorialize the 19 children and two teachers killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

How school shootings shape survivors’ economic lives

May 26, 2022
Researchers studied the lasting impacts of school shootings on students’ academic and employment prospects later in life.
Community members mourn during a vigil for the 21 lives lost in the attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Why “big boats” might be partially responsible for inflation

May 24, 2022
Supply chain journalist Rachel Premack says megaships deserve some of the blame for shipping logjams and increased costs.
“I hate big boats, and so should you,” wrote FreightWaves editorial director Rachel Premack. The Ever Given container ship, above, sails along Egypt's Suez Canal.
Mahmoud Khaled/AFP via Getty Images

TikTok classes might be the next big thing in education

May 23, 2022
"One of the students in the class was making, you know, up to $6,000 to $7,000 a month from her TikTok videos," says Bloomberg report Claire Ballentine.
Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images

Would a slower rate of economic growth stop rising inflation?

May 23, 2022
Economists downgrading their economic forecasts may help "vanquish this inflation monster," argues Axios correspondent Neil Irwin.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Farmers in the Midwest are behind on planting. That could mean lower yields come harvest.

May 19, 2022
Iowa corn and soybean farmer April Hemmes is "at least two and a half weeks" behind due to wet weather.
April Hemmes says farmers like her are "running scared" because over half of their soybeans are exported to China.
Ben Hethcoat/Marketplace

Former Chair Ben Bernanke takes long view of Federal Reserve's current challenges

May 17, 2022
“I think it's important to look back at history,” said the former leader of the U.S. central bank.
During an interview with Kai Ryssdal of "Marketplace," former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke discussed how the Federal Reserve has dealt with inflation in the past as well as its current approach.
Nancy Farghalli/Marketplace

Biden's top economic adviser makes the case for an expansive government role

Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, discusses inflation, inequality and investing in workers and infrastructure.
Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. “We've got a country right now where there have been winners and losers," she says, and the president wants our economic growth "to be more widely shared."
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Fed Chair Jerome Powell: "Whether we can execute a soft landing or not, it may actually depend on factors that we don't control."

May 12, 2022
"I think the one thing we really cannot do is to fail to restore price stability," Powell told Kai Ryssdal.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, left, speaks with Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Nancy Farghalli/Marketplace