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Matt Levin

Senior Reporter

SHORT BIO

Matt covers AI for Marketplace, where he tries to be as polite as he can to every chatbot he meets … because, well, he’s seen sci-fi movies. Matt also covers some crypto and housing, with a taste for stories that make you say: "huh, that's kinda weird.”

Before joining Marketplace Matt was a data and housing reporter for CalMatters, focused on California politics and policy. Before that he was a statistics jockey for a think tank, focused on poverty and inequality. And long before that Matt was a really terrible teenage cashier for Toys R Us.

Matt’s previous honors include awards from the Online News Association and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and SPJ awards.

Latest Stories (301)

Has the pandemic made the U.S. less vulnerable to oil price spikes?

by Matt Levin
Mar 8, 2022
Biden's ban on Russian oil may raise already high fuel prices. Though recessions followed past runups, this time may be different.
High oil prices may not affect the U.S. like they used to. We produce a lot of the commodity ourselves, and many households are flush with savings.
David Ryder/Getty Images
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Cryptocurrency mining and the environment

How bitcoin mining works

by Matt Levin
Mar 4, 2022
Ingredients: Tens of thousands of powerful computers, enough energy to power all of Poland. Yield: More than $30 million in newly minted bitcoin every day.
Two technicians inspect a bitcoin mining operation in 2018. The highly lucrative practice is paying off for miners but wreaking environmental havoc.
Lars Hagberg/AFP via Getty Images
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Move to "right-sizing" changes commercial real estate landscape in San Francisco

by Matt Levin
Mar 2, 2022
The hybrid office could reshape the city's economy.
San Francisco's downtown is grappling with a shift from catering to its 9-to-5 crowd, a substantial part of which will be permanently hybrid.
DianeBentleyRaymond/Getty Images
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As the ruble tumbles, cryptocurrency attracts ordinary Russians, oligarchs, maybe even the state itself

by Matt Levin
Mar 1, 2022
In some ways, cryptocurrency is perfect for the conditions the war is creating.
With the crash of the ruble, Russians are turning to cryptocurrency.
Kirill Kudryavstev/AFP Getty Images
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How do sanctions against Russian oligarchs actually work?

by Matt Levin
Feb 25, 2022
A relatively small team in the Treasury Department works with banks to ensure sanctions are followed.
"These are people who personally gained from the Kremlin’s policies, and they should share in the pain," President Joe Biden said of sanctions aimed at Russian oligarchs.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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Does the torrent of government data make economists better at predictions?

by Matt Levin
Feb 23, 2022
FRED, a popular government website, started tracking 30 kinds of data in 1991. Now it tracks 800,000.
The 800,000 types of data that FRED tracks are basically irresistible to economists.
Creative/Getty Images
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Americans are buying a whole lot of furniture

by Matt Levin
Feb 16, 2022
Home furnishing sales went up 7.2% month over month in January, but why are people buying so much furniture?
Furniture sales climbed in January as people made themselves more comfortable at home.
Getty Images
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Super Bowl to highlight marriage of crypto and sports

by Matt Levin
Feb 11, 2022
Expect to see lots of commercials for a relative newcomer on the very expensive Super Bowl ad scene: crypto.
A screenshot from YouTube show's Tom Brady's commercial with FTX , a cryptocurrency exchange.
YouTube
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COVID & Unemployment

Omicron’s peak coincided with key week for jobs data

by Matt Levin
Feb 2, 2022
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' "reference week," used to calculate employment, included Jan. 12 — when omicron was at its worst.
Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images
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Federal Reserve considers pros and cons of digital currency

by Matt Levin
Jan 26, 2022
Here's how you'd buy a Mountain Dew and a Slim Jim with digital cash.
Just like cash, the value stored in a digital dollar would be instantly accessible to stores. But are Americans willing to kiss their greenbacks goodbye?
Tamer Soliman/Getty Images
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