Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi
Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi reports and produces for Planet Money, telling stories that creatively explore and explain the workings of the global economy. He's a sucker for a good supply chain mystery — from toilet paper to foster puppies to specialty pastas. He's drawn to tales of unintended consequences, like the time a well-intentioned chemistry professor unwittingly helped unleash a global market for synthetic drugs, or what happened when the U.S. Patent Office started granting patents on human genes. And he's always on the lookout for economic principles at work in unexpected places, like the tactics comedians use to protect their intellectual property (a.k.a. jokes).
He's reported from Iceland on the dramatic crash of the country's budget airline, from Denmark on the global trade for human sperm, and from Germany on the country's (uncannily familiar) obsession with returning the things they buy online. He also produced Planet Money's 2020 Murrow-award-winning collaboration with the NPR Ed Desk, the show's audiobook rendition of the Great Gatsby, as well as collaborative episodes with Pro Publica, and Gimlet Media's How to Save A Planet.
Horowitz-Ghazi hails from Santa Fe, New Mexico, studied history at Reed College, and got his start in radio at Oregon Public Broadcasting. He was selected as a 2014 AIR New Voices Scholar and a 2019 Arthur F. Burns Fellow. He previously worked with Michel Martin's team at All Things Considered, where he produced breaking news and feature stories, led film coverage, and directed the live broadcast.
At All Things Considered, Horowitz-Ghazi reported on how a national clown scare affected professional clowns, who was behind of a wave of succulent poaching on the California coastline, what happens to a musician's legacy after they die, and why his hometown burns a giant human effigy every year. He also pitched and produced "Brave New Workers," a series of profiles on people adapting to the changing economy, and has interviewed coal miners, rock climbers, coyote hunters, porn stars, cowboys, truck drivers, drone pilots, Carrie Brownstein, Werner Herzog, and George R.R. Martin, among many others. In his free time, he enjoys riding bicycles, playing squash (middlingly), and sleeping out of doors.
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The lawsuit was one of the cases that inspired the new law — the Consumer Review Fairness Act — that aims to curb one avenue businesses have used to sue customers for posting negative online reviews. -
In the early 1970s surrealist icon Salvador Dalí published a lavish cookbook called Les Dîners de Gala. Decades later, the book is being republished for a new and much wider audience.
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In light of a recent rash of "creepy clown" sightings and incidents across the country, some working clowns say the controversy is negatively affecting their business.
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For decades, residents in Santa Fe, N.M., have gathered to burn a massive puppet — but only after stuffing it with symbols of their woes. It's a way to release the past year's sadness and start anew. -
The network is offering descriptive narration of the Olympics for blind TV consumers for the first time during the Rio Games. Jim Van Horne, one of the narrators, says it can be tough work.
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As the last VCR factory in Japan closes down production, we take a look at the rise and fall of the videocassette recorder and the culture it created.
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The late hip-hop producer left behind troves of unfinished music. How do you dig into the vault of an artist like Dilla and assemble an album that remains true to their creative vision?
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Following the controversy surrounding Melania Trump's speech at the RNC, NPR looks at a history of speeches given by the spouses of those running for president, starting with Eleanor Roosevelt.
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The art market is booming in Santa Fe, N.M., but the highbrow scene leaves some artists feeling out of place. So, one collective made a space of their own — with a big boost from the fantasy author. -
After the collapse of the steel industry, the city of Pittsburgh is undergoing what many are calling an economic renaissance. But some residents are ambivalent about the rapid changes.
