Ben Casselman

Ben Casselman is the chief economics correspondent at The New York Times, elevated to the role in 2025, where he leads coverage of the U.S. economy, labor markets, inflation, and economic policy for the Business desk and contributes to enterprise and explanatory reporting for broader audiences. He joined the Times in 2017 after serving as chief economics writer and senior editor at FiveThirtyEight, where he helped build data-driven coverage of the economy and elections. Earlier, he reported for The Wall Street Journal from 2006 to 2013, where he shared a Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and was part of a team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for National Reporting. His writing combines rigorous data analysis with accessible explanations, frequently integrating charts, historical context, and policy implications. In addition to reporting, he is an adjunct faculty member at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, teaching economic reporting. Over roughly two decades on the beat, his coverage has evolved from energy and disaster economics at the Journal to broad macroeconomics, employment, inequality, and pandemic-era policy at FiveThirtyEight and the Times. He is recognized internally as a collaborative newsroom leader and “economics whisperer,” often helping translate complex data for general readers and guiding coverage during periods of economic volatility.