Kai Ryssdal

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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 (6,146)

Make Me Smart | Episode 1293

The history behind Black Friday

Nov 26, 2024

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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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Latest Stories (5,837)

A day in the life of a pandemic principal

by Kai Ryssdal and Anais Amin

Feb 7, 2022

Principal Greg Moffitt explains the puzzle of planning for the school day and supporting anxious educators and families.

Schools are beginning to spend federal COVID-19 relief funds on programs to mitigate learning loss caused by the pandemic.

Michael Loccisano via Getty Images

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Microbusinesses and the pandemic

A small business weighing the costs and savings of remote work

by Kai Ryssdal and Maria Hollenhorst

Feb 3, 2022

When pandemic pivots become permanent.

Carolyn Walker’s remote workstation in Bradenton, Florida, more than a thousand miles away from the marketing agency she runs in New Haven, Connecticut.

Courtesy Walker

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Microbusinesses and the pandemic

This microbusiness owner is riding a roller-coaster

by Kai Ryssdal and Daisy Palacios

Feb 2, 2022

Running a microbusiness in a pandemic economy is tough. Businesses that rely on human interaction have to be creative to survive.

Amelia Freeman-Lynde, who owns Freeman's Creative in North Carolina, has seen many small businesses suffer hard knocks recently. “It's kind of like, pull yourself up or get out of the game,” she said.

Alex Manness/Courtesy Amelia Freeman-Lynde

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In Ukraine, the Russian invasion scare could be keeping out foreign investors

by Kai Ryssdal and Sean McHenry

Feb 1, 2022

The threat undermines “Ukraine's position on international markets" said the Atlantic Council's Peter Dickinson. "Companies can't finance themselves."

A woman sells fruit in an underground walkway in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. There is concern “about the safety of Ukraine as a place to do business," said Peter Dickinson of the Atlantic Council.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

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Hawaiian boat tour owner is "carefully rebuilding" after tsunami damage

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban

Jan 26, 2022

Sea Quest Hawaii's business was already down 30% from omicron when the tsunami caused $100,000 in damage to its office.

Sea Quest Hawaii

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IMF downgrades global economic growth in its latest report

by Kai Ryssdal and Sean McHenry

Jan 25, 2022

The IMF's Gita Gopinath talks about the challenges facing the global economy as the world enters its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The global economy did rebound quite strongly in 2021," says the IMF's Gita Gopinath. "The problem is that countries have recovered at very divergent paces." Above, Gopinath at a 2021 interview.

Pedro Ugarte/AFP via Getty Images

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To deter Russia, the U.S. may have to take a hard stance on economic sanctions

by Kai Ryssdal and Sean McHenry

Jan 21, 2022

To avert war in Europe, we may have to absorb “political, economic and diplomatic costs," said Eddie Fishman of the Atlantic Council.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during the U.S.-Russia summit in Geneva on Friday.

Jean-Christophe Bott/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

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As prices at the grocery store rise, farmers' costs are up too

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban

Jan 20, 2022

Iowa corn and soybean farmer April Hemmes paid double for nitrogen this year. Consumers shouldn’t blame growers for inflation, she said.

April Hemmes says farmers like her are "running scared" because over half of their soybeans are exported to China.

Ben Hethcoat/Marketplace

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Those KN95 masks you just bought might not meet testing standards

by Kai Ryssdal and Maria Hollenhorst

Jan 20, 2022

We go shopping for face coverings with a self-professed “mask nerd”

A discarded face mask is seen on the ground. It can be difficult for consumers without specialized testing equipment to verify the quality of masks they purchase.

David Gannon/ Getty Images

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Microbusinesses and the pandemic

Two years into the pandemic, this microbusiness owner is still on "a roller coaster"

by Kai Ryssdal and Daisy Palacios

Jan 19, 2022

"My brain is tired from adapting so much," says Ashlie Ordonez, owner of The Bare Bar in Denver, Colorado.

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Kai Ryssdal

Host and Senior Editor

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Episodes by Kai (6,146)

Latest Stories (5,837)

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