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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Meetings, love them or hate them, when it comes to the workplace, they're really important. NPR's Life Kit has tips for how to be heard at work. (Story originally aired on ATC on Nov. 13, 2021.)
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Music icons like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have sold their songwriting catalogs for eye-popping amounts of money. It's a growing trend in an industry that's shifted since the start of streaming.
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There's been a storm of debate about an old anti-inflation policy: price controls. So we dust off the history books to see what happened in World War II.
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Johnson & Johnson is entangled in lawsuits regarding its talcum-based products being linked to ovarian cancer. To save itself from future suits, the company is betting big on a tricky legal maneuver.
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Due to recent scandals and Queen Elizabeth's poor health, the royal family's brand and future feel far less certain than it has in years. Can "The Firm" survive without its CEO?
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Restaurant, retail and airline employees continue to face unruly customers over COVID-19 precautions. A customer service expert explains how to defuse situations before they get out of hand.
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In the Netflix hit series Squid Game, cash-strapped players compete in deadly children's games for money. NPR's podcast, The Indicator, looks at what the show reveals about debt and decision making.
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The Beergame App simulates the steps of selling beer from brewer to drinker — revealing a real world problem that can tangle the supply chain.
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The average American adult spends four or five hours a day on their phone. Is there a line where that much phone time crosses into addiction? The Indicator from Planet Money asked an economist.
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When companies don't want to directly raise prices, they often shrink the size of the product while keeping the same price. This tendency to downsize products has come to be known as shrinkflation.