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Matt Levin

Senior Reporter

SHORT BIO

Matt covers AI for Marketplace, where he tries to be as polite as he can to every chatbot he meets … because, well, he’s seen sci-fi movies. Matt also covers some crypto and housing, with a taste for stories that make you say: "huh, that's kinda weird.”

Before joining Marketplace Matt was a data and housing reporter for CalMatters, focused on California politics and policy. Before that he was a statistics jockey for a think tank, focused on poverty and inequality. And long before that Matt was a really terrible teenage cashier for Toys R Us.

Matt’s previous honors include awards from the Online News Association and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and SPJ awards.

Latest Stories (301)

A Warmer World

How ride-hailing accelerates climate change

by Matt Levin
Sep 24, 2021
A new study finds companies like Uber and Lyft may be a hazard to the planet because of "deadheading."
An Uber waits for a client. A new study found that the driving done between customers, known as "deadheading," increases the ride-hail industry's carbon emissions.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images
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Drive-thru coffee is extra hot

by Matt Levin
Sep 17, 2021
Drive-thru coffee shops are attractive to companies because they require fewer employees — especially beneficial during a worker shortage.
Drive-thru coffee shops have seen a boon thanks to work-from-home suburbanites.
Tim Boyle via Getty Images
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Welcome to California, where poverty is also a pandemic

by Matt Levin
Sep 13, 2021
Had it not been for the recent gusher of federal money, things would be even worse.
Some cities see homelessness drop, while others are overwhelmed.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Exodus of school bus drivers creates headaches for students, parents, schools

by Matt Levin
Sep 10, 2021
Some drivers have retired. Others have been lured by higher wages delivering packages.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
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Your office keycard is a pocket-sized legacy of 9/11

by Matt Levin
Sep 9, 2021
After the 2001 attacks, companies began looking for new ways to make their workers feel safe. Keycards and ID badges took off.
martin-dm, Getty Images
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When a jobs report adds up to nothing

by Matt Levin
Sep 3, 2021
Hospitality and leisure businesses may have trouble finding workers even after delta subsides.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
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National home prices reach record high

by Matt Levin
Aug 31, 2021
Home prices are now up 41% since 2006, before the housing market crash that zapped the economy.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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California hopes for a duplex revolution

by Matt Levin
Aug 30, 2021
The bill likely to become law would effectively end single-family-only zoning across the state. But will it ease housing prices?
People look at a San Francisco home during an open house in April 2019. Following a dramatic jump in housing prices over the past year, a California bill that has passed both chambers seeks to effectively end single-family-only zoning.
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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COVID-19

Will FDA approval bring a wave of vaccine mandates?

by Matt Levin
Aug 23, 2021
Mandates will be detrimental to employers in a tight job market.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine received full FDA approval Monday. Though more employers may mandate vaccines, more employees may voluntarily get them.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
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As an economic indicator, copper is worth its weight in gold

by Matt Levin
Aug 20, 2021
Copper has long been seen as an economic predictor. So why are prices dipping, and what are the implications?
Copper scrap left over from machining. The price of the commodity reached an all-time high in the spring but has recently declined.
Scott Olson via Getty Images
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