Kai Ryssdal

Host and Senior Editor

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.

Latest from Kai Ryssdal

Oct 9, 2009
Los Angeles’ art has imitated its life
John Buntin, who writes about the 20th-century relationship between organized crime and the Los Angeles Police Department in "L.A. Noir," takes Kai Ryssdal on a tour of the city's downtown and points out things that haven't changed much.
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Oct 9, 2009
Who should Tim Geithner be talking to?
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has logged in a lot of phone time with executives from big Wall Street banks. Who else could he be calling? Kai Ryssdal gets some insight from Anil Kashyap at the University of Chicago.
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Oct 8, 2009
Could tax credits help create jobs?
The U.S. is down more than 8 million jobs since the recession started, and the Obama administration is considering giving companies tax credits if they create new jobs. Harvard University economist Greg Mankiw explains to Kai Ryssdal how it might work.
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Oct 8, 2009
NYC threatens to rip Garment District
New York City's Garment District has been a major hub for clothes production for over 100 years. But proposed zoning law changes would open the area up for development. Kai Ryssdal talks to designer Nanette Lepore, who is fighting the changes.
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Oct 7, 2009
Hollywood shuffle reflects new strategy
Universal Pictures and Disney have replaced the movie makers running their film studios with executives adept at marketing. Cynthia Littleton of Daily Variety tells Kai Ryssdal how the changes point to the studios' changing business model.
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Oct 7, 2009
Cheat at golf, cheat at work
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely tells Kai Ryssdal about a survey of golfers that exposed how their approach to the game correlated to the way they worked.
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Oct 7, 2009
Letters: tire tariffs, Kenya, combat pay
Listeners chimed in on our coverage of the Obama administration's trade policies, the drought in Kenya and whether we should take liberties with the definition of "combat pay."
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Sep 10, 2009
Crisis rattled belief in financial system
Lehman Brothers' collapse a year ago shattered the blind faith that Americans at all levels of society had placed in the financial system. Kai Ryssdal examines how trust was abused and what it will take to rebuild it.
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Sep 4, 2009
ESPN’s leap into the major leagues
ESPN President George Bodenheimer got his start in the mailroom 29 years ago, back when a 24-hour sports network was considered a crazy idea. He talks about what ESPN means for sports today.
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Aug 29, 2009
Not a tranquil week for Wall Street
Kai Ryssdal gets a look at what happened in the markets the last full week of August with business writers Heidi Moore and Megan McArdle from The Atlantic magazine.
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