David Brancaccio

"Future Effects" Senior Correspondent

David Brancaccio is Marketplace’s “future effects” senior correspondent. In this role, David aims to explore how short-term thinking can impact our personal finances, innovation, government policy, and more.

David worked as the host and senior editor of “Marketplace Morning Report” from 2013 to 2026, where he focused on the regulation of financial markets, the role of technology in labor markets, the history of innovation, digital privacy, sustainability, social enterprises, and financial vulnerability in older adults. David freelanced for Marketplace in 1989 before becoming the program’s European correspondent based in London in 1990.

David hosted the evening program from 1993-2003, then anchored the award-winning public television news program “Now” on PBS after a period co-hosting with journalist Bill Moyers. David has co-produced and appeared in several documentaries, including “Fixing the Future,” about alternative approaches to the economy, and “On Thin Ice,” about climate change and water security, with mountaineer Conrad Anker. David is the author of “Squandering Aimlessly,” a book about personal values and money. He enjoys moderating public policy discussions, including at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Chicago Ideas Week, and the Camden Conference in Maine.

David is from Waterville, Maine, and has degrees from Wesleyan and Stanford universities. Honors include the Peabody, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University, Emmy, and Walter Cronkite awards. He is married to Mary Brancaccio, a poet and educator. They have three offspring, all adults. He likes making beer and building (and launching) pretty big rockets. Among his heroes are Edward R. Murrow and Wolfman Jack.

Latest from David Brancaccio

Mar 2, 2023
Portugal’s clean energy solution? Sun, sea and…floating solar panels
From the BBC World Service: A new report by the International Energy Agency says global carbon dioxide emissions rose to a record high last year, but new technology — including sea-floating solar panels in Portugal — have helped slow it; BBC reporter Paul Carter has been to see them up close. Plus with a new president-elect in place, BBC’s Bisi Adebayo reports on the brain drain of young talent leaving Nigeria.
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Mar 1, 2023
Why Big Tech is getting involved in health care
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Amazon’s recent acquisition of a chain of health care clinics from One Medical is raising questions of Big Tech’s growing role in the sector. We talk to University of Michigan professor Erik Gordon about the potential antitrust implications, and what the Amazon example could mean for the sector going forward. Congress’ newest committee, which focuses on competition with China, held its first hearing yesterday, at a time of increased tensions with the People’s Republic. And, we talk to Susan Schmidt, Head of Public Equity at the State of Wisconsin Investment Fund, about the increasingly tenuous economic picture.
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Mar 1, 2023
Big Tech’s health care mergers raise antitrust questions
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Amazon’s acquisition of health care clinics represents new antitrust terrain for the Federal Trade Commission.
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Mar 1, 2023
Loneliness “epidemic” hits the workplace
Loneliness can have major effects on employees and employers alike in the workplace — in addition to the mental health effects, one study found it can cost businesses up to $154 billion annually. As part of American Public Media’s “Call to Mind” mental health initiative, we look into the effects of loneliness and how employers can mitigate it. Expanded SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are due to expire today after receiving a pandemic-era boost. And, Hong Kong is dropping its masking requirement amid a broader push from the government to revive the island’s slumping economy.
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Mar 1, 2023
A new leader for Nigeria’s old problems
From the BBC World Service: Bola Tinubu, who ran for the ruling All Progress Congress, has been declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election. BBC’s Peter Okwoche reports for us from the capital Abuja with the harsh economic reality and high unemployment high on his to-do list. In Sri Lanka hospitals, banks and ports close as people go on strike in defiance of a government ban; plus Leanna Byrne reports from Germany, as from today the city of Berlin is paying for young people to go out in the evening.
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Feb 28, 2023
CHIPS Act funding comes with conditions in the fine print
Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images
Government funding from the CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law by President Biden last year, will come with a number of conditions for companies that receive a portion of the money. We look at some of the stipulations, such as employer-provided childcare and potential profit sharing with the government. Manufacturers spent more money on computers and other equipment, a sign that demand is growing as companies try to deal with persistent labor shortages. And, a look at a project in Georgia that’s using genetically-modified trees to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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Feb 28, 2023
Inside the “hacker” culture of the rich and powerful
Milan Jovic/Getty Images
A new book explores how the most privileged in society attempt to “hack” the rules.
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Feb 28, 2023
Get ready for a Supreme Court showdown over student debt
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a case challenging the Biden administration’s landmark student debt forgiveness program, which was initially announced mid-last year. We look into what could happen at the high court, and who could potentially be affected whichever way the justices rule. And, a conversation with Bruce Schneier, the author of a new book called “A Hacker’s Mind: How the Rich and Powerful the Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend Them Back.”
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Feb 28, 2023
The UK and EU get Brexit re-done
Niklas Halle'n/AFP via Getty Images
From the BBC World Service: The United Kingdom and European Union have renegotiated part of the Brexit deal that had been causing huge problems in Northern Ireland; new policies have been drawn up covering goods travelling into the country from England, Scotland and Wales. The BBC Northern Ireland Business and Economics Editor John Campbell runs us through the small print. Plus, with blackouts regularly affecting huge parts of South Africa, BBC correspondent Vumani Mkhize reports on the impact on the country’s wine industry.
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Feb 27, 2023
Productivity has been on a decline, but we can fix it
Caiaimage/Paul Bradbury/Getty Images
Worker productivity has been on the downswing for the better part of the last decade and a half, a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute finds. The good news for the economy, according to McKinsey Director Olivia White, is that there are ways that trend can be reversed. With the economic storm clouds seemingly being pushed back for now, we check in with Julia Coronado, president of the National Association of Business Economics, about what the organization’s recent survey of economists says about attitudes toward the economy. And, federal regulators have warned banks about the risks of investing in crypto.
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