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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

  • Is it legal to put the brakes on an online stock frenzy?
    Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

    It’s a question we’re asking after some brokerage firms like Robinhood stopped customers from buying shares of GameStop and other stocks on Thursday. Plus, GM’s plan to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035. And, checking in on the status of vaccine distribution in Appalachia.

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  • Biotech firm Novavax has labs in the U.S. and has carried out trials in the U.K. and South Africa.
    Getty Images

    Stock markets in Europe faced an unsteady end to the week with disputes over the supply of vaccines and the GameStop stock roller coaster weighing on investors. Also, GDP readings for European countries illustrate the economic pain cause by additional rounds of lockdowns. And, the illustrator whose viral coronavirus diary has been turned into a book.

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  • The U.S. economy did indeed shrink in 2020
    Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

    Plus, Apple says it will roll out changes to privacy notifications for apps tracking user behavior. And, how President Biden’s executive order intended to boost the amount of American-made goods the federal government buys might affect small businesses.

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  • Gamifying investing can have real-life consequences
    Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

    The GameStop, AMC and other short squeezes on their own aren’t necessarily that disruptive, says one business school professor. He said there’s a broader trend about the “gamification of finance” that’s more alarming. Plus, what Fed Chair Jerome Powell had to say about the stock market, the housing market and more.

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  • UNICEF is delivering the COVAX facility's mission for rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines
    Grant Hindsley/AFP via Getty Images

    UNICEF is preparing to distribute 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the year. Plus, the “Reddit rally” which saw GameStop shares soar is spreading beyond Wall Street.

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  • For-profit prisons fall out of favor
    Alex Wong/Getty Images

    Biden cracks down on the private prison industry by executive order. Plus, a push to reopen the Obamacare enrollment window during the pandemic. Also, a quick explainer on what’s happening with GameStop’s stock. And, we’ll learn today if Apple was able to keep up its strong pandemic performance.

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  • For Lara Mordenti Perrault's daughter, the long road to a merit scholarship included 30 applications and 90 admissions essays.
    China Photos/Getty Images

    One example of the lengths to which a family will go to in order to pay for a college education — or, in this case, how far people will go to save money on that education. And, U.S. sales for Starbucks have taken a hit. But the company is optimistic over increasing sales in China.

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  • The European Union was months behind the U.S. and U.K. in making vaccine deals with pharmaceutical companies.
    John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

    AstraZeneca has rejected EU claims that it was sending vaccines intended for the bloc to other countries. Plus, U.K. college students stage a rent strike over housing they don’t need during pandemic restrictions.

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  • For Lara Mordenti Perrault's daughter, the long road to a merit scholarship included 30 applications and 90 admissions essays.
    China Photos/Getty Images

    The long road to a merit scholarship included 30 applications and 90 admissions essays.

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  • Parents may want to impress outsiders by getting their child into a prestigious college. “But what other people don't understand,” says New York Times columnist Ron Lieber, “is whatever financial constraints you may be operating under."
    Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

    When there’s pressure from everyone around you to get your child into an elite college, are you really going to stop and ask: “Wait, what can we afford?” New York Times columnist Ron Lieber has some tips to help think it through. And, Biden’s coming executive moves on climate.

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