Adam Davidson
Adam Davidson is a contributor to Planet Money, a co-production of NPR and This American Life. He also writes the weekly "It's the Economy" column for the New York Times Magazine.
His work has won several major awards including the Peabody, DuPont-Columbia, and the Polk. His radio documentary on the housing crisis, "The Giant Pool of Money," which he co-reported and produced with Alex Blumberg, was named one of the top ten works of journalism of the decade by the Arthur L. Carter of Journalism Institute at New York University. It was widely recognized as the clearest and most entertaining explanation of the roots of the financial crisis in any media.
Davidson and Blumberg took the lessons they learned crafting "The Giant Pool of Money" to create Planet Money. In two weekly podcasts, a blog, and regular features on Morning Edition, All Things Considered and This American Life, Planet Money helps listeners understand how dramatic economic change is impacting their lives. Planet Money also proves, every day, that substantive, intelligent economic reporting can be funny, engaging, and accessible to the non-expert.
Before Planet Money, Davidson was International Business and Economics Correspondent for NPR. He traveled around the world to cover the global economy and pitched in during crises, such as reporting from Indonesia's Banda Aceh just after the tsunami, New Orleans post-Katrina, and Paris during the youth riots.
Prior to coming to NPR, Davidson was Middle East correspondent for PRI's Marketplace. He spent a year in Baghdad, Iraq, from 2003 to 2004, producing award-winning reports on corruption in the US occupation.
Davidson has also written for The Atlantic, Harper's, GQ, Rolling Stone, and many other magazines. He has a degree in the history of religion from the University of Chicago.
-
Six months ago, Dubai Ports World reached an agreement with Congress to sell its North American operations to a U.S.-based firm within four to six months. Six months later, the company still owns those ports, but says it will sell soon. Democrats say they will make it a campaign issue if a sale isn’t completed before the November elections.
-
Everyone knows that oil prices are high because demand has boomed in places like China, while supply has remained stagnant or fallen. But some oil analysts are focusing on a different issue: the amount of oil that's being held off the market in storage. These analysts say the oil market has created big incentives to hold on to oil rather then sell it. -
After months of lobbying, cajoling and hoping, a small Indiana town has the prize it longed for: a promise from Honda to build its newest auto plant there. Greensburg, Ind., beat out at least seven other Midwestern towns for the facility. Today, Honda made its announcement.
-
The New York Stock Exchange is merging with the European stock market Euronext. The deal would create an international stock trading network, with outposts in the U.S. and across Europe. The move is the biggest so far in a trend toward cross-border stock trading.
-
More than 560 people are arrested in an investigation of mass-marketing fraud schemes that victimized more than 2 million Americans, according to the Justice Department. The scams were carried out over the Internet and via telemarketing and direct mail. Officials say losses exceed $1 billion.
-
The Treasury Department prepares to issue its semi-annual report that identifies countries involved in manipulating the value of their currencies. The focus this time around is on China, which is accused by many of keeping the value of the yuan artificially low.
-
Bolivia's President Evo Morales has nationalized the country's natural-gas industry. Foreign energy companies have six months to agree to new contracts for operating in the country. Some analysts say Morales may have miscalculated their willingness to remain in Bolivia.
-
Six years ago, the meeting of The International Monetary Fund and World Bank was targeted by protesters in Washington, D.C. This weekend, the streets of the capitol are quiet. What has changed?
-
Several rallies in support of immigrants' rights are held, including in New York, where thousands marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. The issue has come to the fore since the House of Representatives passed a law making it a felony to be in the United States without proper documentation.
-
The political din over a Dubai-based company's efforts to run terminals at major U.S. ports is so loud it's hard to get at the facts of the case. But dozens of security experts say the move won't put the nation at additional risk.
