Marketplace Morning Report

Nearly 600 Marketplace fans gathered at the Aratani Theatre in downtown Los Angeles to watch Kai Ryssdal present Marketplace Live, in partnership with LAist.

Kai was joined onstage by economics author, educator, and content creator Kyla Scanlon to talk about AI, prediction markets, Federal Reserve independence, and the war in Iran. Later, former “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio joined Kai to discuss his experience rebuilding after the LA fire and his new job as Marketplace senior correspondent covering future effects.

Note: This show was recorded on March 29, and the situation in Iran has changed since then. Follow our latest coverage here.

David Brancaccio has hosted an estimated 16,925 morning shows over 13 years. Now, for his final time in the host chair, David shares snippets of discussions he's had throughout the years, including with experienced local Del Rio, Texas-based reporter Karen Gleason, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, and actor and entrepreneur William Shatner. Also on the program, Princeton's Burton Malkiel addresses concerns and gives advice about a potential AI bubble.

For his second-to-last time hosting an episode of "Marketplace Morning Report," David Brancaccio spoke with the author of arguably the most influential book on personal finance and investing of all time. First published in 1973, "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" argues that it’s super hard to beat the stock market. Its author, Burton Malkiel, is a Princeton professor emeritus and still going strong at 93. We have that conversation, as well as a preview of March's consumer price index.

Today, we're returning to our 2019 Brains and Losses series, which investigated the financial exploitation of older Americans. In the years that have followed, AI has only made scams more convincing and easier to conduct. This morning, we're joined by an elder law attorney in Florida to hear how some pioneering laws there are aiming to stop scammers who prey on older people mid-swindle. Also, we’re digging into the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, which remains stubbornly elevated.

In the 1960s, the German government put a tariff on American chickens. President Lyndon B. Johnson then retaliated with a tariff on light-duty commercial vehicles and trucks. The back-and-forth has come to define the U.S. auto sector. On this morning's show, why a veteran automotive CEO calls this chicken tax "one of the most important, formative aspects of how the U.S. industry has evolved." But first, markets try to guess whether the U.S.-Iran ceasefire will hold.