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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

  • Delegations from the U.S. and China are meeting again to restart talks aimed at ending the ongoing trade stalemate. But, what would a win for eitherside look like, and is China now more willing to give in as consumer spending continues to slip? Then, it’s been 40 years since revolutionaries overthrew Iran’s monarchy, but the economy is struggling today. Plus, horse racing is the second-biggest spectator sport in Britain, generating billions for the economy. But just a month to go until a key racing event, 174 stables are in quarantine amid an outbreak of highly contagious equine flu. Today’s show is sponsored by Kronos, Pitney Bowes and Indeed.

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  • What happens when you hand struggling people money? A study on Finland’s universal basic income experiment concludes that not much, for the economy at least. We take a look at the mysteriously falling benchmark interest rate. America’s liquefied natural gas industry is growing, but are China’s tariffs on LNG actually hurting it as some predicted? Plus, Johnson & Johnson becomes the first company to put the prices of its products — drugs in this case — in its TV ads. Today’s show is sponsored by Kronos  and Indeed.

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  • Will Congress be able to pass legislation to sue the international oil cartel OPEC? Walgreens is put on notice for selling tobacco to minors, and in one case, for selling tobacco, period. Plus, as the idea of Medicare-for-all seems to gain traction, doctors, health care industry lobbyists and insurance companies are beginning to round the wagons. Today’s show is sponsored by Kronos  and Indeed.

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  • From the BBC World Service… There’s been a flurry of attention in the U.K. over how social media platforms regulate content promoting self-harm. We’ll hear from Instagram’s boss about new changes coming to the platform to give more oversight to graphic images. Then, after nine months of negotiations, Lebanon has a government this week. But political paralysis has hit the economy, which ranks as the third most-indebted in the world. Will new reforms aimed at spurring growth be a long-lasting form of change?  Then, do gender and perfume mix? Today’s show is sponsored by Kronos  and Indeed.

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  • Video game companies and content creators like Netflix are taking the “L” on the global phenomenon knows as Fortnite. Does the U.S. economy need a new stimulus to fend off a recession? Plus, copper is a valuable commodity readily available to thieves in the form of wire in public electrical lines. The State of Missouri is fighting back. Plus, what would you name the newest, big banking merger? Today’s show is sponsored by Ling Ling Asian Foods, Avery Publishing, the Alliance for Lifetime Income and Indeed.

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  • The federal consumer watchdog looks to roll back regulations on payday lenders. How is the American toy industry doing after Toys”R”Us pulled the plug? Plus, financial markets seem to be correcting following a slight downturn late last year, but one expert tells us it might not have been so slight. So, are we actually in a bear market? The thing is, we won’t know until later. Today’s show is sponsored by Ling Ling Asian Foods, Avery Publishing, the Alliance for Lifetime Income and Indeed.

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  • From the BBC World Service… We have the latest developments in Venezuela’s political power struggle. Then, as British Prime Minister Theresa May heads to Brussels today to try and reopen Brexit negotiations with the E.U., we head to Spain to find out how businesses and thousands of expats living on the sunshine coast will be impacted by the U.K.’s departure. Plus, one of the world’s most important film festivals opens to today in Berlin. It’s not as flashy as, say, the Cannes Film Festival, but it draws a big crowd of moviegoers and industry insiders. Today’s show is sponsored by Ling Ling Asian Foods, Avery Publishing, the Alliance for Lifetime Income and Indeed.

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  • We’re parsing out some of those jobs numbers President Trump dropped during Tuesday’s State of the Union address. What’s the real threat to the president’s touted “economic miracle.” Plus, a new study finds one quarter of Americans in poverty eligible for federal benefits don’t get them. And the president of the European Council says there’s a “special place in hell” for promoters of Brexit who didn’t really think this whole thing through. Today’s show is sponsored by Avery Publishing, the United States Postal Service and Indeed.

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  • Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump enters a campaign event at the Berglund Center on Sept. 24, 2016 in Roanoke, Virginia. 
    Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

    President Donald Trump claims uptick in jobs and wages for workers.

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  • Then-U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke (L) and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao (C) watch US President Donald Trump speaks wave during his visit to the U.S. Department of Transportation on June 9, 2017 in Washington, D.C. 
    BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

    The promise of investment in "cutting-edge" technology came out of this year's State of the Union.

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David Brancaccio