David Kestenbaum
David Kestenbaum is a correspondent for NPR, covering science, energy issues and, most recently, the global economy for NPR's multimedia project Planet Money. David has been a science correspondent for NPR since 1999. He came to journalism the usual way — by getting a Ph.D. in physics first.
In his years at NPR, David has covered science's discoveries and its darker side, including the Northeast blackout, the anthrax attacks and the collapse of the New Orleans levees. He has also reported on energy issues, particularly nuclear and climate change.
David has won awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
David worked briefly on the show This American Life, and set up a radio journalism program in Cambodia on a Fulbright fellowship. He also teaches a journalism class at Johns Hopkins University.
David holds a bachelor's of science degree in physics from Yale University and a doctorate in physics from Harvard University.
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NPR's Planet Money profiles a Hungarian immigrant who pioneered computerized trading. Thomas Peterffy struggled for years and experimented with many techniques, including a typing robot.
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The online furniture company Wayfair is now one of the most shorted stocks. Our Planet Money team talks to its CEO about what it's like to be running a company when investors are betting on your fall.
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Economics jokes can be hard enough to understand, let alone laugh at. NPR's Planet Money team recently tried some of its own jokes out on a live audience at a small comedy club in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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Greece has been renegotiating its bailout deal with the European Union. The man guiding the country is new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. A few years ago he was working for a video game company.
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For most of U.S. history, there was no minimum wage. Politicians passed laws tiptoeing toward one. But the Supreme Court struck those laws down. We look at how the U.S. finally got a minimum wage.
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David Kestenbaum of NPR's Planet Money tells the story of the first stock ever shorted. It's a tale of intrigue, lies, sabotage and a life of exile.
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Most people don't bet that stocks will fall in value, and we wondered why. So we decided to short something ourselves. -
Our Planet Money team has a story about a man who realized at the time that he was the only person in the world with his job. It was a job selling something almost no one wanted.
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It's one of the most popular items, but often it seems to be as far as humanly possible from the entrance. The Planet Money team looks at two very different theories about why that is.
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An economic indicator commonly called the VIX, volatility index, is also known as the fear index. Whatever you call it, the index is hitting lows not seen since before the financial crisis.
