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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

  • California has always been among the priciest places for a gallon of gas in the U.S. Among the reasons are the state's higher taxes and environmental standards.
    Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

    Lawmakers on Capitol Hill and in states across the country are considering temporary suspensions of various gas taxes. The idea is to drive prices down at the pump, and it has support from Republicans and some Democrats. Plus, why California gas prices always seem to be the highest in the U.S. Also, what the falling price of crude oil means for the global economy. And, Russia’s reliance on foreign technology is revealed after sanctions cut the country off from parts, repair and know-how sourced from around the world.

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  • If Russia stops sending natural gas to Europe, it'll have to send it somewhere else.
    Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images

    If Russia stops sending natural gas to Europe, it’ll have to send it somewhere else.

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  • Russia can’t just shut off its natural gas supplies
    Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    Forty percent of Europe’s natural gas comes from Russia. And last week, Moscow warned it could turn off the gas to Europe in response to sanctions and Germany nixing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that circumvents Ukraine. But that threat is easier to make than it is to actually carry out. Natural gas production and delivery just doesn’t quite work that way. Plus, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing the country’s airlines to hang onto airliners leased from European companies, in violation of international sanctions. Hundreds of leased planes are in limbo.

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  • Nearly 2 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed over into Poland.
    Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: European stocks fell in early trading, following a sharp sell-off across Asian markets. Chinese investors are worried by the impact of further full-city COVID-19 lockdowns, a regulatory crackdown on tech companies and what approach Beijing takes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Plus, fresh European Union sanctions against Russia target the luxury goods, energy and defense sectors. And, as Poland welcomes Ukrainian refugees, some border towns are calling for more resources.

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  • A harvester works in a wheat field in the Russian village of Nur-Shari.
    Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images

    Ukraine and Russia account for nearly a third of all global wheat exports. And as you might expect, wheat prices have been soaring thanks to Russia’s war in Ukraine. So what can be done to increase supplies and tamp down prices? From the BBC, China is dealing with some new threats on the COVID front, and its markets are acting accordingly. We also check in on Maine, where there’s concern that vast fields of solar panels are going to take up too much space for farmland.

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  • Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell has turned his efforts toward containing inflation. The employment cost index is one of the economic indicators the Fed examines in setting monetary policy.
    Graeme Jennings-Pool/Getty Images

    This week, we’ll hear from the Federal Reserve about its plans for interest rates. After a two-day meeting, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will have a press conference Wednesday. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates, and it’s a decision that affects everyone. As financial markets react to the Russia-Ukraine war, they also tell us things about economic and geopolitical risk. From the BBC, we hear about a Ukrainian-born, award-winning chef who has transformed her East London kitchen into an aid center to help family and friends in Ukraine.

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  • Residents in the tech hub of Shenzhen have been told to stay home while mass testing is carried out.
    STR/AFP via Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: Statistics suggest that the number of COVID-19 cases so far this year in China exceed the total number reported for 2021. But it’s not just the pandemic that’s worrying markets. Plus, America’s largest natural gas producer believes the US can play a much bigger role in providing global energy security. And, for Ukrainians living abroad, fundraising and sending aid to their loved ones in a war zone isn’t easy.

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  • Let’s compare central bank notes about the U.S., Europe
    Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images

    Interest rates are making headlines in Europe, as the European Central Bank announced this week that it’s going to keep rates steady for now – but is prepared to move them higher. In the U.S., the Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates next week. Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall-Genzer and the BBC’s Victoria Craig team up for a discussion about the approaches of both central banks. The people overseeing fracking operations are running into shortages on all fronts.

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  • The Eclipse, one of the yachts of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovitch, pictured in 2013, is reportedly worth $570 million.
    Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images

    Sanctions represent an existential threat for Russia’s elite, says sociologist Brooke Harrington.

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  • A large home owned by the Russian Len Blavatnik stands along East 63rd Street in Manhattan on March 01, 2022 in New York City. Some city officials and activists are reacting to Russia's war in Ukraine by demanding the freezing of assets of prominent and wealthy Russians, known as Oligarchs, in New York who have ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Around the world, businesses, sporting groups, and art associations are severing ties to Russia.
    Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    The Western sanctions on Russia’s wealthy elite have raised a variety of questions that range from who these people are to the effectiveness of the sanctions. We spoke to Dartmouth sociologist Brooke Harrington, who argues in a new piece for The Atlantic that the sanctions represent an existential threat for Russia’s elite — and, by proxy, the Kremlin itself. Consumer sentiment has dropped to lows not seen since the 70s and 80s, yet spending remains strong. What gives? The dating app Tinder has added a background check feature that allows users to see if a possible date has a criminal past.

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