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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)

The Corn Belt is facing smaller yields, but higher prices are keeping this farmer's hopes up

Sep 15, 2022
Drought has made the last few years tough for farmers like Keith Alverson of Chester, South Dakota. But higher corn prices are keeping him optimistic.
Farmers in the Corn Belt have endured two years of drought.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Adaptive headlights will soon make night driving brighter without blinding others

Sep 14, 2022
The technology, new to the U.S., can potentially make driving at night safer, says David Aylor of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Adaptive beam headlights use a forward-looking camera to detect other vehicles and "create a shadow in the area of that car," says David Aylor of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Feng Li/Getty Images

The traditional business card is getting a tech makeover

Sep 14, 2022
Manually inputting contact info is becoming a thing of the past. Instead, networkers are adopting QR codes and chips.
Traditional business cards are falling by the wayside as networkers adopt digital options.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What Chinese streaming services censor from American TV shows

Sep 9, 2022
A journalist's side-by-side comparison of 100 episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” on Chinese and U.S. streaming sites.
Foreign TV shows on Chinese streaming websites like Youku must be approved by regulators. Journalist Manyun Zou analyzed 100 episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” to figure out what was censored.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Fed’s hawkish stance on inflation brings pain to marginalized communities, economist says

Michelle Holder expects Black and Latinx workers to lose jobs in higher proportion as interest rates rise and the economy cools.
Federal Reserve policies that increase interest rates and chill economic growth are aimed at bringing down inflation, but they can also put stress on households and businesses. Above, the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth II dies amid uncertain times in the UK

Sep 8, 2022
"She died — although at the age of 96 — too soon," said Marketplace's Stephen Beard.
Queen Elizabeth at Saint Paul's Cathedral in London in 2012.
WPA Pool/Getty Images

For TikTok maker Kyla Scanlon, it's about making finance fun (and a bit chaotic)

Sep 7, 2022
Influencer Kyla Scanlon talks about the art of making TikToks on macroeconomics and her battles with algorithms and attention spans.
Kyla Scanlon is the independent economics educator and TikToker behind the "vibecession" theory.
Jarrett Dang/Marketplace

How a tax credit to boost minority hiring became a gift to temp agencies

Sep 6, 2022
Workers may not be the biggest beneficiaries of the work opportunity tax credit, says ProPublica investigative reporter Emily Corwin.
A woman waits for a job at a temporary employment agency in North Dakota. ProPublica's Emily Corwin discusses the work opportunity tax credit's benefits for temp agencies and the persistent lack of solutions for workers.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Musicians union challenges Spotify to raise royalties

Streaming accounts for the vast majority of recorded music income, but musicians and producers make fractions of a cent per stream.
The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers wants Spotify to increase the per-stream royalty for musicians and make its revenue data transparent. 
Sergi Alexander/Getty Images for Spotify

Now reopened after pandemic shutdown, popular L.A. restaurant manages through "unprecedented times"

Aug 31, 2022
Here's Looking at You is up and running again — but the restaurant industry has changed a lot since the Before Times.
Lien Ta (left), co-owner of Here's Looking at You, speaks with "Marketplace" host Kai Ryssdal. "What every restaurant is seeking is consistent business," she says. "And we have that right now."
Anais Amin/Marketplace