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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

  • JetBlue says it wants to disrupt transatlantic flight prices as it previously did on the New York - LAX route.
    Joe Raedle/Getty Images

    A bidding war may be taking off in the airline industry. In February, Spirit Airlines and Frontier announced a merger – two budget carriers becoming one. Now, JetBlue has stepped in, saying it wants to buy Spirit instead and has the superior offer. A law that requires diversity on corporate boards has been coming under more scrutiny. 

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  • Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

    Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is now jumping with both feet into social media: He has acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter and will join the company’s board of directors. As one of Twitter’s superusers, Musk has also been vocal on free speech and other issues. What can Twitter expect with his arrival on the board? President Biden is expected to extend the moratorium on student loan payments. We take a look at the war in Ukraine from the perspective of a Ukrainian gift shop in Chicago. 

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  • DASHAVA, UKRAINE - SEPTEMBER 18:  A worker, at the request of the photographer, grasps a hand wheel on a valve at the Dashava natural gas facility on September 18, 2014 in Dashava, Ukraine. The Dashava facility, which is both an underground storage site for natural gas and an important transit station along the natural gas pipelines linking Russia, Ukraine and eastern and western Europe, is operated by Ukrtransgaz, a subsidiary of Ukrainian energy company NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine. Ukraine recently began importing natural gas from Slovakia through Dashava as Ukraine struggles to cope with cuts in gas deliveries by Gazprom of Russia. As Russia has cut supplies many countries in Europe that rely heavily on Russian gas fear that Russia will increasingly use gas delivery cuts as a political weapon to counter European economic sanctions arising from Russian involvement in fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian armed forces in eastern Ukraine.  (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

    From the BBC World Service: As European Union leaders discuss a fifth round of sanctions against Russia, they’re under mounting pressure to take a hard look at their oil and gas imports. Plus: It’s not just governments taking action, companies have shut down their operations across Russia. Now French luxury brand Chanel is clamping down on who buys its goods. And, with the cost of living crisis continuing to worsen as a result of the war in Ukraine, new data show reliance on food banks in the U.K. is at an all-time high. 

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  • Bond investors expect inflation to pick up this year, though Fed Chair Powell doesn't expect it to have a lasting impact on overall inflation.
    Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

    The U.S. is ratcheting up the economic pressure on Russia by targeting its ability to make bond payments. So far, Russia has managed to avoid a default on sovereign debt. But, the Treasury Department has now started blocking Russia’s ability to access assets held at U.S. banks. Shipping costs rose to major heights during the pandemic, but they actually went down in March.

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  • "It's really important that we don't let young people who fell through the cracks lose their chance at an education entirely," said Measure of America's Kristen Lewis.
    Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

    The pandemic increased the proportion of young people who are out of work and out of school, undermining wealth, health and happiness.

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  • "It's really important that we don't let young people who fell through the cracks lose their chance at an education entirely," said Measure of America's Kristen Lewis.
    Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

    The term “disconnected youth” covers people from the age of 16 to 24 who are neither working nor in school. The U.S. actually had a declining youth disconnection rate over at least 10 years, but that all changed when the pandemic hit, according to a study from Measure of America of the Social Science Research Council. We spoke to Kristen Lewis, Measure of America’s director, about the study’s findings. We look into what another round of sanctions against Russia could look like after news of possible human rights violations surfaced. President Biden is looking to close a loophole in the Affordable Care Act.

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  • Sanctions on Russian energy supplies would present a significant challenge for many EU countries.
    Alexey Furman/Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: Four rounds of sanctions measures have already been approved against Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. Plus, Sri Lanka’s newly appointed finance minister has resigned after less than 24 hours in the job. Protesters are increasing their calls for the country’s president to go amid the worst economic crisis in decades.

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  • Union organizer Christian Smalls speaks following the April 1, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York.
    Andrea Renault/AFP via Getty Images

    It’s the difference between getting the right to collective bargaining and coming up with an actual contract. After the first successful union drive at Amazon, we speak with a labor expert about what this moment means for workers organizing in the U.S. and what comes next. And, we start the week with a look at how inflation can make inequality even worse.

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  • Union organizer Christian Smalls speaks following the April 1, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York.
    Andrea Renault/AFP via Getty Images

    Local union organizers “robbed Amazon of one of its best anti-union arguments,” says Adam Seth Litwin of Cornell.

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  • A Starbucks logo hangs in the window of one of the chain's coffee shops in the Loop on January 4, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois.
    Scott Olson/Getty Images

    Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz is returning to the company. He says a pause on repurchasing shares will give the company more room to invest in staff and stores. Plus, an effort by the Biden administration to bring more production of batteries for electric vehicles to the U.S. And, Amazon, Apple, CVS, General Motors, Kellogg’s and Starbucks are among the household brands that have come out against anti-LGBTQ laws in various states. We look at the business backlash to laws like the one Texas recently instituted, which orders the state to investigate parents for child abuse if their kids receive gender-affirming health care.

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David Brancaccio