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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.

Latest Stories (5,839)

In a 2nd Trump term, Fed independence would go “out the window,” economist says

Oct 28, 2024
Kai Ryssdal explores what would happen to the global economy if the Federal Reserve lost its autonomy.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell says the process for making interest rate decisions “is always the same.” At meetings, FOMC members ask, “What's the right thing to do for the people we serve?' … It's never about anything else."
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Private equity is buying up businesses in the skilled trades

Skilled trades businesses, like HVAC repair and plumbing companies, are seen as stable, future-proof business models. Private equity wants in.
Private equity firms will buy a few skilled-trade businesses, then combine them to make one much larger company. "The idea is you improve the margins and efficiencies," said Te-Ping Chen from the Wall Street Journal.
Craig Hudson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Poker bots have invaded online gambling

These robots are basically unbeatable, and they suck the fun — and the money — out of playing, says Kit Chellel of Bloomberg.
If you've ever played online poker, you've probably played against a bot and not known it, says Bloomberg's Kit Chellel.
Bruno Vincent/Getty Images

Chicago Fed president explains “the hardest thing that a central bank has to do”

Oct 10, 2024
Austan Goolsbee talks about the Fed's timing in moments of transition, if COVID is still affecting the economy, and why he's a "data dog."
"I'm in the data dogs. And the thing about the data dogs [is that they] don't respond to one month," says Austan Goolsbee about the importance of taking the long view before making decisions.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Musician Dessa on balancing the needs of body, art and business

Oct 8, 2024
The singer, songwriter and author discusses creativity and the "double bottom line" that rewards artists but makes them vulnerable.
Dessa in performance. "There is a constant tension that becomes more pronounced the longer you stay in the game," she said. "Like, what’s good for the art versus what’s good for the artist."
Al Pereira/Getty Images

The CIA runs a nonprofit venture capital firm. What's it investing in?

Oct 7, 2024
Agency's taxpayer-funded investment arm seeks tech that could boost national security. It's made some smart bets, says Jon Keegan of Sherwood.
In 1999, the CIA created a venture capital firm to invest in technologies that could be used in national security programs.
Charles Ommanney/Getty Images

The U.S. military and Coca-Cola go way back

Oct 3, 2024
Archaeologists have uncovered World War II-era human remains and caches of Coca-Cola bottles at a U.S. military base on the Marshall Islands.
Senior archeologist Susan Underbrink shows "Marketplace" host Kai Ryssdal her collection of Coca-Cola bottles uncovered around Kwajalein.
Hayley Hershman/Marketplace

How the relationship between government and economy has changed since "The Great Society"

Oct 2, 2024
Decades after the promise of "The Great Society" for Americans, President Biden is once again changing the relationship between the economy and the government.
Many modern government programs have roots to "The Great Society."
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Taller, slicker data centers could be the future

Oct 1, 2024
Data centers are getting taller and slicker as they move closer to urban and suburban areas.
A construction crew works on a CloudHQ data center in Ashburn, Virginia.
Nathan Howard/Getty Images

The U.S. military looks at electrifying the sky

One example is Joby Aviation’s electric “air taxi.”
"Marketplace" host Kai Ryssdal sits in a flight simulator for an electric aircraft made by Joby Aviation.
Sophia Paliza-Carre/Marketplace