Samantha Fields

Senior Reporter

SHORT BIO

Samantha Fields is a senior reporter at Marketplace.

She’s particularly interested in how the economy affects people’s everyday lives, and a lot of her coverage focuses on economic inequality, housing and climate change.

She’s also reported and produced for WCAI and The GroundTruth Project, the “NPR Politics Podcast,” NPR’s midday show, “Here & Now,” Vermont Public Radio and Maine Public Radio. She got her start in journalism as a reporter for a community paper, The Wellesley Townsman, and her start in radio as an intern and freelance producer at “The Takeaway” at WNYC. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Latest Stories (524)

Who has added credit card debt during the pandemic?

Sep 28, 2021
Survey finds that people 40 and under are more likely than those who are older to have more credit card debt now than they did a year and a half ago.
The rise of consumer credit has banks on the lookout for whether or not consumers can pay their debt.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Need for climate finance front and center at U.N. General Assembly

Sep 22, 2021
Developed countries pledged $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poorer nations mitigate and adapt to climate change.
President Joe Biden addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. He pledged to increase the U.S. contribution to international climate funding.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

California orders insurers not to drop homeowners in wildfire-prone areas

Sep 21, 2021
With the risk of wildfire rising, it's become harder for some homeowners to find coverage.
A table and chairs remain in front of a Greenville, California, home destroyed by the Dixie Fire. State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara wants insurers to reward residents who mitigate fire risk.
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

More companies pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Sep 20, 2021
What do corporate pledges accomplish in the long run? And do they really work to bring about meaningful change?
Fumes rise from factories in Kawasaki, Japan, in 2009. More than 80 companies announced Monday that they're signing on to The Climate Pledge, which aims to get corporations to net-zero emissions by 2040.
Koichi Kamoshida via Getty Images

Why doesn't homeowners insurance cover flood damage?

Sep 16, 2021
Short answer: Flooding cost insurance companies too much money, so the federal government stepped in.
Natural disasters have increased in scope and scale, increasing costs but not always homeowners premiums. Senior economics contributor Chris Farrell expects reform to come to the market.
Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images

Climate change may force 200 million people to migrate, study says

Sep 14, 2021
And the mass migrations could start within a decade, according to a new report from the World Bank.
A farmer walks among orange trees dried out by a drought in Morocco's southern plains in October 2020. Water scarcity will likely be a cause of migration in Northern Africa over the coming decades, according to a World Bank report.
Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images

Cheaper tickets ahead as virus saps air travel

Sep 9, 2021
The industry is warning of more than the usual post-summer falloff in flying.
David McNew/Getty Images

20 years on, health care claims from 9/11 survivors are increasing

Sep 9, 2021
Many have been diagnosed with cancer. The exposure to toxins from the pulverized buildings "has a really, really long tail," a doctor says.
In 2007, paramedic Marvin Bethea, a first responder on 9/11, displayed the medications he had to take in the aftermath.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

A record number of job openings, but only so-so on the hiring front

Sep 8, 2021
In some sectors, there aren’t enough job openings, like in construction, education and the arts. And in others, there are too many, like food servic
The number of hires has plateaued.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

Federal pandemic unemployment benefits expire nationwide

Sep 6, 2021
No more gig worker and self-employed benefits, no more extra $300 a week and no more extended aid for the long-term unemployed.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images