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Kristin Schwab

Reporter

SHORT BIO

Kristin Schwab is a reporter at Marketplace focusing on the consumer economy. She's based in Brooklyn, New York.

Before Marketplace, Kristin produced narrative and news podcasts for The New York Times, New York Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. She teaches audio journalism at her alma mater, Columbia Journalism School.

Kristin also has a BFA in dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. After performing with ballet and modern companies, she got her start in journalism as an editor at Dance Magazine. Kristin grew up in Minnesota and has been a bit reporting obsessed since watching the '90s PBS show "Ghostwriter" as a kid. Yes, she had one of those necklace pens and a marbled composition notebook.

Latest Stories (554)

Adults are cashing in on lemonade stands

Sep 5, 2024
The classic lemonade stand isn't just for kids anymore and young adults are taking advantage of this side hustle.
Running a lemonade stand as an adult has recently gone viral on TikTok, says The Washington Post's Amber Ferguson. But it's not an easy job.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Restaurant industry still struggles with staffing, consultant says

Sep 4, 2024
Restaurants across the U.S. have the same problems, says Alexis Percival. "There's been a bit of a reckoning" about how hard the work is.
Alexis Percival, once a restaurant owner, now works as a consultant in the industry. Her current project has brought her to Texas.
Phoebe Landrum Photography

The last time inflation was under 3% was March 2021

Aug 21, 2024
The economy — and life —has changed a lot since.
The world looked very different the last time inflation rates dipped under 3%.
Montinique Monroe/Getty Images

Federal Reserve's path to 2% inflation could be short but tricky

Aug 20, 2024
Because data lags, the current level is uncertain. Plus, key factors like unemployment and the commercial property market are volatile.
The Fed may start cutting interest rates before inflation reaches its 2% target because data lags behind current conditions. It's like looking at the rearview mirror while driving.
Amy Toensing/Getty Images

The Federal Reserve controls one interest rate. How does that affect all the others?

Aug 14, 2024
Generally, rates move in concert. But industries have their own criteria for lending and make changes at their own pace.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Small businesses are just as grumpy about the economy as consumers

Aug 13, 2024
Optimism has increased, but it's still below a 50-year average, a National Federation of Independent Business survey shows.
For a lot of business owners, this high inflation is stressful to navigate, says Holly Wade of the NFIB.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Manhattan's Chinatown has a succession planning problem

Aug 12, 2024
Nearly a quarter of the neighborhood's residents are over 65. As business owners retire, the enclave could lose its cultural roots.
Small, family-run businesses play a big role in Chinatown in New York's Manhattan borough. Many people who established or inherited those businesses are nearing retirement, but not all have planned what comes next.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

Why is the price of an airport sandwich sky-high?

Aug 8, 2024
"The cost of running a business in the airport is actually really high," says Lora Kelley at The Atlantic.
Food prices at airports typically cost about 10% more than street prices. Above, a restaurant at Austin–Bergstrom International Airport.
George Rose/Getty Images

What female entrepreneurs of the 19th century can teach us about the modern economy

Economic researcher Ruveyda Nur Gozen analyzed 3,589 women-owned manufacturing businesses from the 1800s.
"Women entrepreneurs or [manufacturing] business owners hired more women compared to their male counterparts" in the 19th century, said research economist Ruveyda Nur Gozen.
Boston Public Library via Wikimedia Commons

In a rural Texas town, the constant hum of a bitcoin mine haunts residents

Aug 7, 2024
People have attributed symptoms from ringing ears to heart issues to the noise, Andrew Chow of Time explains.
Cryptocurrency mines are basically facilities that hold thousands of computers, which are cooled by fans.
Maxim Zmeyev/AFP via Getty Images