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Kai Ryssdal

Host and Senior Editor

SHORT BIO

Kai is the host and senior editor of “Marketplace,” the most widely heard program on business and the economy — radio or television, commercial or public broadcasting — in the country. Kai speaks regularly with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, startup entrepreneurs, small-business owners and everyday participants in the American and global economies. Before his career in broadcasting, Kai served in the United States Navy and United States Foreign Service. He’s a graduate of Emory University and Georgetown University. Kai lives in Los Angeles with his wife and four children.

Episodes by Kai (6,044)

Make Me Smart | Episode 1233

Biden’s student debt relief legacy in limbo

Aug 30, 2024
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Marketplace

Spending more, saving less

Aug 30, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1232

Klarna's plan to swap workers with AI

Aug 29, 2024
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Marketplace

A weaker dollar

Aug 29, 2024
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Marketplace

Breaking Ground: Here's what universal broadband access could look like

Aug 28, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1231

What happened to corporate DEI efforts?

Aug 28, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1230

Wheelchair rugby’s Chuck Aoki makes us smart about the Paralympics

Aug 27, 2024
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Marketplace

Breaking Ground: Bringing high-speed internet to every home in Kentucky

Aug 27, 2024
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Marketplace

Breaking Ground: How are fiber-optic cables made?

Aug 26, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 1229

The supermarket supermerger heads to court

Aug 26, 2024
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Latest Stories (5,813)

Why investment in public pools took a dive

by Kai Ryssdal and Sofia Terenzio
Aug 30, 2024
As summer temperatures rise, some see the public pool as climate adaptation infrastructure, says journalist Eve Adams.
"[Public pools] offer this really important and reprieve from extreme heat that, as anyone who's lived through the past summer can tell you, is getting to be a real problem in cities," said journalist Eve Andrews.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
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Inside China's "superchip" black market

by Kai Ryssdal and Sean McHenry
Aug 29, 2024
Powerful computer chips are sold in Shenzhen markets despite U.S. restrictions on exports, says Ana Swanson of the New York Times.
An electronics store in a Shenzhen tech market, where vendors are selling some restricted NVIDIA superchips.
Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images
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Breaking Ground

How a small Kentucky town was 10 years ahead of the government

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban
Aug 28, 2024
As the federal government tries to connect every home to high-speed internet by 2030, Kai Ryssdal visits a Kentucky town that already did that — 10 years ago.
An early transition toward high-speed fiber internet has transformed some American communities.
Andie Corban/Marketplace
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Breaking Ground

In national broadband rollout, rural landscapes pose a challenge

by Kai Ryssdal and Sarah Leeson
Aug 27, 2024
The government is spending billions to expand internet access. But distance, low housing density and other factors complicate the plan.
Chip Spann of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration gave Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal a tour of sites related to Kentucky's broadband expansion.
Sarah Leeson/Marketplace
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Breaking Ground

The U.S. is investing billions of dollars in fiber internet. Here's what makes it run.

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban
Aug 26, 2024
We tour a North Carolina plant where melted glass is pulled into the hair-like strands that power fiber-optic cable.
Manufacturers like Prysmian supply fiber-optic cables to internet service providers.
Andie Corban/Marketplace
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Breaking Ground

Libraries are essential for internet access, even as national broadband projects ramp up

by Kai Ryssdal and Sarah Leeson
Aug 23, 2024
The federal government wants to bring fiber connections to every home. In the meantime, some areas will still rely on the library.
Debra Lawson, director of the Spencer County Public Library, says she doesn't know what some patrons would do without the library's internet access. "The way they use our computers, they're participating in society," she says.
Andie Corban/Marketplace
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For this hog farmer, uncertainty in Washington is top of mind

by Kai Ryssdal , Sean McHenry and Maria Hollenhorst
Aug 21, 2024
Will there be a new Farm Bill this year? Will the Federal Reserve cut interest rates? These are a few of the questions top of mind for Brian Duncan, farmer and president of the Illinois Farm Bureau.
Brian Duncan at his hog farm Polo, Illinois
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
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NDAs are everywhere, from workplaces to weddings

by Kai Ryssdal and Sean McHenry
Aug 19, 2024
Thanks largely to social media and #MeToo, nondisclosure agreements have migrated beyond corporate secrets to personal relationships.
Nondisclosure agreements can apply to anything from corporate secrets to couples' relationships, according to New York magazine writer Reeves Wiedeman.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images
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Atlanta Fed’s Bostic calls on patience amid the clamor for interest rate cuts

by Kai Ryssdal and Sofia Terenzio
Aug 15, 2024
Despite high prices, “wages are growing faster than inflation," and families’ purchasing power is growing, he says.
"The first thing I think is inflation is getting back to target in an orderly way," says Raphael Bostic, president and CEO of the Atlanta Fed, about the CPI falling to 2.9%.
Stephen Nowland/Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
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Shrinking batteries unleash DIY vehicles onto streets of New York

by Kai Ryssdal and Aleezeh Hasan
Jul 24, 2024
Though the creative contraptions might help riders get around traffic jams, they also pose serious safety concerns.
From electric unicycles to jerry-rigged jitneys, New Yorkers are finding unorthodox ways to get around.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
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