Stacey Vanek Smith
Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money .She's also a correspondent for Planet Money, where she covers business and economics. In this role, Smith has followed economic stories down the muddy back roads of Oklahoma to buy 100 barrels of oil; she's traveled to Pune, India, to track down the man who pitched the country's dramatic currency devaluation to the prime minister; and she's spoken with a North Korean woman who made a small fortune smuggling artificial sweetener in from China.
Prior to coming to NPR, Smith worked for Marketplace, where she was a correspondent and fill-in host. While there, Smith was part of a collaboration with The New York Times, where she explored the relationship between money and marriage. She was also part of Marketplace's live shows, where she produced a series of pieces on getting her data mined.
Smith is a native of Idaho and grew up working on her parents' cattle ranch. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in comparative literature and creative writing. She also holds a master's in broadcast journalism from Columbia University.
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Open office plans have become common. Our Planet Money teams has the story of the man who came up with the idea to tear down cubicle walls, and why he thought it was a good idea.
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The price of oil has been on a downward dive for a couple of years. This has been great for some businesses and not so for others. One industry hit especially hard is the recycling business.
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Our Planet Money team examines the financial life within ISIS territory. When members of the Islamic State take control of a town, they also take control of its businesses and its economy.
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As migrants pour into Europe, there's a debate about the impact they'll have. To help inform that discussion, here's a look at the economic history of the 1980 Mariel boat lift from Cuba to Florida.
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To business owners the word bankruptcy can mean failure. We visit a retailer in Charlotte, N.C., which tried to avoid the big failure. But bankruptcy might be the secret weapon of the U.S. economy.
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Machines are taking on jobs that once seemed robot-proof. But can a machine replace radio reporters? We pit a human against a machine to find out.
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Chocolate is increasingly popular and under assault from diseases that infect cocoa plants. Scientists are working to find varieties that will resist diseases and keep the world's sweet tooth happy.
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Everyone hates to pay extra for checked baggage on an airline. But you probably aren't paying enough — in fact, your baggage is bumping far more lucrative cargo.
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The world is running out of chocolate. A scientist in Ecuador has come up with a solution. But if you love chocolate, you might not like it.
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Valentines Day is this one day when one product — a red rose — is worth two or three times more than it is at any other time of the year. If a florist catches that window, he's golden. But the process of getting the roses to is fraught with risk, middlemen, crazy expense and bad weather.