Mitchell Hartman

Correspondent

SHORT BIO

Mitchell’s most important job at Marketplace is to explain the economy in ways that non-expert, non-business people can understand. Michell thinks of his audience as anyone who works, whether for money or not, and lives in the economy . . . which is most people.

Mitchell wants to understand, and help people understand, how the economy works, who it helps, who it hurts and why. Mitchell gets to cover what he thinks are some of the most interesting aspects of the economy: wages and inflation, consumer psychology, wealth inequality, economic theory and how it measures up to economic reality.

Mitchell was a high school newspaper nerd and a college newspaper editor. He has worked for The Philadelphia Inquirer, WXPN-FM, WBAI-FM, KPFK-FM, Pacifica Radio, the CBC, the BBC, Monitor Radio, Cairo Today Magazine, The Jordan Times, The Middletown Press, The New Haven Register, Oregon Business Magazine, the Reed College Alumni Magazine, and Marketplace (twice — 1994-2001 & 2008-present).

Mitchell has gone on strike (Newspaper Guild vs. Knight Ridder, Philadelphia, 1985) and helped organize a union (with SAG-AFTRA at Marketplace, 2021-23). Mitchell once interviewed Marcel Marceau and got him to talk.

Latest Stories (2,024)

Bank of America, Countrywide settle discrimination case

Dec 22, 2011
BofA's costs mount as it settles a mortgage discrimination suit against subsidiary Countrywide Financial.

Wendy's set to take down Burger King as no. 2 in U.S.

Dec 21, 2011
Wendy's appears set to overtake Burger King as the 2nd most-loved burger chain in the U.S., behind McDonald's. What is the company doing so right?

AT&T opts out of T-Mobile merger

Dec 20, 2011
Facing stiff government opposition due to anti-trust claims, AT&T is backing out of what would have been a $39 billion deal

AT&T Gives Up Bid for T-Mobile

Dec 20, 2011
AT&T announced it is giving up its effort to purchase T-Mobile for $39 billion, despite its claims that the move would actually help consumers

Foreclosures on hold for the holidays

Dec 19, 2011
Big lenders are halting foreclosures for the next two weeks. But after the new year, foreclosures will speed up again.

Cash-strapped Christmas

Dec 15, 2011
Unemployment and foreclosures have forced many more households to cut budgets to the bone this year. How some families are coping with the holidays now that they're no longer middle class.

Long-term jobless benefits aid discounters

Dec 7, 2011
If Congress lets extended unemployment benefits run out, it will affect discount stores and local economies, as well as the unemployed.