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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

  • All 34 big banks should be strong enough to endure another financial crisis, according to their scores from the Federal Reserve stress tests. So what's next? Time to deregulate? We talk to Diane Swonk, CEO of DS Economics, about what these results really mean. Plus, how the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) dodges the debt ceiling and why Nike's move to reach customers directly has sporting goods retailers' shares falling.

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  • Who are the unbanked?
    Oli Scarff/Getty Images

    Income volatility is increasingly driving low- and middle-income Americans to check cashers and payday lenders.

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  • Millennials of color are less like to own a credit card.
    Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    Financially secure white millennials feel held back.

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  • A new book looks at what economists can learn from literature.

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  • Greek tragedies — like that of, say, Orestes — can teach us a lot about bankruptcy.
    Punch Magazine circa 1858/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    'The Wisdom of Finance' aims to discover the humanity at the heart of high finance.

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  • Faced with labor shortages, some dairy farms are increasingly using automation to get work done. We visit one operation where robots are milking cows all year round. Plus, Italy's bailout of its banking system, which could cost the euro equivalent of $19 billion.

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  • Now that Senate Republicans have released the draft for their bill on health care reform, we'll recap how the markets are doing. Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, joined us to explain why health care stocks have been reacting positively. (Hint: It's not expected to actually pass.) Afterwards, we'll look at what Japan and the European Union have in store for their free-trade agreement, and then explore some of the questions U.S. mayors have surrounding Trump's infrastructure promises.

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  • As of late, Janet Yellen and co. had seemed keen on another rate hike, but the mood appears to be shifting. Diane Swonk of DS Economics stopped by to explain why there's some dissent among Fed members. Afterwards, we'll talk about why the major banks are required to take "stress tests," and then look at how America's productivity rate is doing.

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  • Signs direct drivers in Sidney, Nebraska.
    Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    Polarization in the country might not be as simple as "liberals vs. conservatives."

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  • Uber has just undergone a shareholder revolt. Investors have ousted CEO Travis Kalanick following investigations that found widespread abuse in the company's workplace. Adam Lashinsky, an executive editor at Fortune who's also authored a book on Uber, joined us to talk about whether Uber has what it takes to turn itself around, and where Kalanick fits into the future of the company. Afterwards, we'll look at Ford's decision to move production of its next-generation Focus model to China, and then talk about the market for selling Obamacare policies.

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David Brancaccio