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Stephanie Hughes

Senior Reporter

SHORT BIO

Stephanie Hughes is a senior reporter at Marketplace. She’s focused on education and the economy, and lives in Brooklyn.

She's reported on topics including the effectiveness of technology used by schools to prevent violence, startups that translate global climate data for homebuyers, and why theater majors are getting jobs writing for chatbots.

Previously, she worked as a producer for Bloomberg, where she covered finance, technology, and economics. Before that, she worked as the senior producer for “Maryland Morning,” broadcast on WYPR, the NPR affiliate in Baltimore. She’s also reported for other media outlets, including NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered,” “The Takeaway,” and Salon.

At WYPR, she helped produce the year-long, multi-platform series “The Lines Between Us,” which won a 2014 duPont-Columbia Award. She’s also interested in using crowdsourcing to create online projects, such as this interactive map of flags around Maryland, made from listener contributions.

A native of southern Delaware, Stephanie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in communications, studying at the Annenberg School. Before she found her way to radio, she worked in the children’s division of the publishing house Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Latest Stories (545)

How pizza can explain a proposed rule about bank capital

Jan 16, 2024
Regulators want to make sure banks have enough money on hand to weather wobbles in the economy. Too much risk can ruin a good meal.
If you think of the funding a bank uses to do business as a pizza, debt would be slices with unusual toppings (which come with more risk) and equity slices would be plain cheese. The proposed rule would require more of those plain slices. But the banking industry warns that would cost more.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

It doesn’t take a Mathlete to know a “Mean Girls” remake adds up for Hollywood

Jan 12, 2024
The latest iteration is a musical movie, and a chance to make money by presenting old material to a new audience.
More "Mean Girls": Bebe Wood, left, Avantika and Reneé Rapp star in the new musical movie.
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Rent data has clout in the consumer price index — but also limitations

Jan 11, 2024
The CPI's calculation of shelter costs is considered a lagging indicator.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics checks rent prices every six months, so it can take time for increases to be reflected in the data.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

After the long night of inflation, consumers finally expect to see the sun

Jan 8, 2024
Consumers forecast inflation at 3% a year from now, the lowest their short-term expectations have been in three years.
One reason consumers are feeling better about inflation is that major price hikes for essentials like gasoline and eggs appear to be in the past. But that doesn't mean prices will fall.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Temp jobs have been disappearing. That's actually good news for workers and companies.

Jan 2, 2024
Workers prefer the stability of permanent jobs, and permanent workers tend to be more productive.
The temporary employment sector has weakened as demand softened and many temps became permanent.
Portra/Getty Images

A year after the Taliban barred women from universities, many remain bereft of options

Jan 2, 2024
The World Bank has warned the ban on educating women will hurt the country’s prospects for economic growth. 
Male students stand in front of a poster ordering women to wear hijabs at a private university in Kabul in March 2023. Women have been unable to attend universities in Afghanistan since December 2022.
Wakil Koshar/AFP via Getty Images

The IRS is trying a free online tax-filing system that cuts out vendors

Jan 2, 2024
The Treasury Department found that that third-party vendors were directing users to paid products.
Advocates protest tax preparation companies that direct users to paid products instead of free tax-filing services. Now, 12 states will test the IRS' own free filing service.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Economic Security Project

Federal student loan payments have restarted. More than a third of borrowers missed the first one.

Dec 28, 2023
Many borrowers need to reorganize their budgets. Disruptions in the loan servicing industry haven't helped.
Among the challenges for those restarting payments, many are working with new loan servicers.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for We The 45 Million

Why you might need motivational sayings to get you through canceling a subscription

Dec 22, 2023
From “be strong” to “put in the time,” you may need a few good phrases to get you through the call.
When canceling a subscription, do as this kitten does and just hang in there.
s-dmit/Getty Images

Owning a home now takes a bigger chunk of Americans' incomes

Dec 21, 2023
A report out Thursday from the real estate data firm ATTOM finds that a home, and all its related costs, now eat up about 34% of the average wage nationwide.
A new ATTOM report shows that homeownership costs take up roughly 34% of the average wage nationwide — more than lenders advise homeowners to spend.
Spencer Platt/Getty Image