Get a NEW artist-designed Marketplace sweatshirt when you donate $8/month ... for a limited time! Give Now

Sabri Ben-Achour

Correspondent & Host

Latest Stories (653)

The free market is failing us on antibiotics

Dec 22, 2022
The free market is pretty simple: There’s supply, there’s demand, they meet somewhere in the middle. If there’s a need, there’s a product. But sometimes, that system breaks down, as it has in the market for antibiotics.
Above, a pharmacist measures out antibiotic pills. Only a handful of biotechs are currently developing new antibiotics.  
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Consumers have kept the economy humming. How long can they keep it up?

Dec 20, 2022
Although they're contending with inflation and economic uncertainty, they continue to rack up debt and burn through their savings.
With consumers racking up debt and burning through savings, economists expect a pullback in spending.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

With retail inventories up 17% since last year, expect sales

Dec 19, 2022
Retailers' inventories in October were nearly 17% higher than a year before.
Inventory levels are 17% higher in October than a year earlier, according to the Commerce Department. That means retailers will likely discount goods to move merchandise.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

With overuse of antibiotics, superbugs continue to evolve

Dec 14, 2022
As antibiotics are overused and misused, superbugs keep evolving.
Bottles of antibiotics line a shelf at a Florida pharmacy in August 2007. In the U.S., there are nearly 3 million antibiotic resistant infections each year.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Inflation slows again. What now?

Dec 13, 2022
Prices rose 7.1% in November compared to a year ago — less than expected.
The gas prices drivers paid at the pump dipped 2% in November.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Inflation's "last mile" is the trickiest

Dec 12, 2022
Fighting inflation starts like a sprint, but it's a marathon. And the last few miles are hardest.
Online prices and freight rates are down, pointing toward cooling inflation. But getting the rate back down to 2% will require a cooler labor market, says economist Sarah House.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Airlines and airports need each other — and also hate each other

Dec 6, 2022
Many airports are hoping to raise the fees they charge airlines, and airlines have not responded well. The fight is public and nasty.
The fees airlines charge to airports are much more significant than what airports charge airlines, per ICF's Samuel Engel. Above,  planes sit at the San Francisco International Airport.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What’s the difference between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage?  

There’s been a push for original Medicare recipients to switch to Medicare Advantage, but the plans have seen controversy.
Medicare Advantage plans have seen a number of scandals, Marketplace's senior economics contributor explains why.
Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images

What does the future hold for China's zero-COVID policies?

The protests reflect simmering anger over strict government COVID measures.
Scott Kennedy with the Center for Strategic and International Studies says China is beginning to move away from its strict COVID rules, even if the government won't admit it.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

For some countries, blue bonds offer a way to refinance debt while fighting climate change

Blue bonds, or debt-for-nature-swaps, are helping developing nations refinance their debt while conserving their oceans.
Blue bonds are one way countries can battle debt while looking out for the world's oceans.
Getty Images