Kristin Schwab

Reporter

SHORT BIO

Kristin Schwab is a reporter at Marketplace focusing on the consumer economy. She's based in Brooklyn, New York.

Before Marketplace, Kristin produced narrative and news podcasts for The New York Times, New York Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. She teaches audio journalism at her alma mater, Columbia Journalism School.

Kristin also has a BFA in dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. After performing with ballet and modern companies, she got her start in journalism as an editor at Dance Magazine. Kristin grew up in Minnesota and has been a bit reporting obsessed since watching the '90s PBS show "Ghostwriter" as a kid. Yes, she had one of those necklace pens and a marbled composition notebook.

Latest Stories (512)

Inflation rates have been a little stuck lately. Is that a bad thing?

Oct 12, 2023
Waiting it out might just be part of the journey to cool inflation.
At this point in the journey to cool inflation, it can feel like we're running in place. Is that such a bad thing?
Getty Images

Fewer Americans want brands to take a stand on controversial issues

Oct 10, 2023
A recent Bentley-Gallup survey says 41% of Americans think businesses should take a public stance on current events. That’s down from 48% just a year ago. What happened?
Maybe we don’t care what our toothpaste says about us. But we do care about what our shoes say as we walk through the world in them. Above, a 2018 Nike advertisement featuring quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

These businesses made it through the hardest part of the pandemic. Then they closed.

Oct 9, 2023
The pandemic is still having a domino effect on small businesses. Here's what happened to three of them.
Because data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics lags, its unclear how many businesses have shuttered in the last few years.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The sneaker market is evolving, and Nike is running to keep up

Oct 4, 2023
While the industry used to be all about the look — think Air Jordans — now it’s about the technology.
World-record breaker Tigist Assefa, right, poses with the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1, a shoe that weighs less than a third of a pound, costs $500 and is designed to be worn once.
Luciano Lima/Getty Images

The housing market is a tale of two people: The buyer and the seller

Sep 26, 2023
Both the buyer and the seller have unrealistic expectations right now, while prices and mortgage rates are high.
"Sellers don’t want to take anything less than the peak," Daryl Fairweather of Redfin says. "Buyers are hoping it’s 2008,” says Michael Orbino of Compass.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

6 p.m. dinner reservations are losing their stigma

Sep 22, 2023
People are eating earlier everywhere, according to data from Yelp. Lifestyle changes are part of the reason.
The amount of diners making reservations in the 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. window is double what it was pre-pandemic, according to Yelp.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Amazon desperately seeks seasonal workers while other retailers hold back

Sep 20, 2023
That could mean that holiday hiring will be slower this season, says Andy Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Retailers are still figuring out how to staff warehouses and stores as consumers switch between shopping in person and online and using curbside pickup, says analyst Jessica Ramírez.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Is a four-day workweek possible for blue-collar workers?

Sep 19, 2023
A four-day workweek, which is among UAW contract demands, could make companies more efficient. But some think it could cause burnout.
The United Auto Workers are on strike at certain plants across the U.S. Among their contract demands are a four-day week with no reduction in pay.
Sarah Rice/Getty Images

Automakers rely on temp and "tiered" workers. The UAW wants them to stop.

Sep 18, 2023
The practice dates back to the federal bailout in the 2000s.
Up to 40% of autoworkers in some plants are tiered, according to Syracuse University professor Tod Rutherford.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Why are businesses pessimistic about the economy?

Sep 12, 2023
In August, for the 20th straight month, business owners scored their outlook below average.
Rising labor costs and the inflation of prices for necessary goods are two factors making business owners less optimistic.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images