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)

Fox puts up paywall

Jul 27, 2011
The network comes up with a new way to make viewers pay to watch online.

Facebook's boom brings jobs to rural Oregon

Jul 18, 2011
An old sawmill town in Oregon is home to a Facebook data center. It's helped the local economy, even though there are relatively few jobs at the "server farm."

Will a 9.2% unemployment rate add up to new calls for more stimulus?

Jul 8, 2011
Liberal economists say we're already seeing what happens when stimulus runs out: today's jobs report shows that government cut 39,000 jobs in June.

Job growth expected, but not in all sectors

Jul 8, 2011
Today we'll get the official jobs report from the Labor Department. Early estimates from economists are predicting that the economy added north of 100,000 jobs in June -- but that growth isn't happening everywhere.

Is job growth a factor in the White House debt talks?

Jul 7, 2011
As President Obama and congressional leaders continue to search for common ground on raising the federal debt limit, how concerned are the politicians over creating jobs in the U.S.?

As debt talks resume, lawmakers tied up in tax debate

Jul 7, 2011
After weeks of impasse, President Obama and congressional leaders are resuming debt talks today in hopes of averting a default.

Banks push bank against regulators' plan to 'claw-back' pay

Jul 6, 2011
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is expected to finalize a proposal today that would require big back executives to return pay if their bank fails.

The sweet sound of success

Jul 4, 2011
Many music festivals and concert promoters are seeing attendance increase after a run of slumping ticket sales.

Bank of America settles over mortgage securities

Jun 29, 2011
Bank of America settled with investors for $8.5 billion over claims that it sold them bad loans. What does that mean for holders of 401ks?

Microsoft expected to unveil its own cloud service

Jun 28, 2011
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to introduce Office 365, the latest computing service entering the 'cloud.'