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Mitchell Hartman

Correspondent

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 from Mitchell Hartman

  • For young entrepreneurs who have never gone through a recession, the current economy can be scary. But some are taking on the crisis as a valuable learning experience, and can find advantages. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • Small businesses want a number of things from the incoming Obama administration, including some of the money from the federal bailout. Health insurance and credit card reform are also on the agenda. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • Federal regulators will make billions in new loans available to help so-called "corporate" credit unions, which pool money from retail credit unions and invest it. Now those investments aren't looking so good. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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  • The credit markets are still stuck tight, according to the usual gauge people look at — the LIBOR index. It used to be a pretty obscure financial benchmark that only mattered to bank bureaucrats. But not any more. Mitchell Hartman explains.

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  • Hedge funds seem to make headlines when things go bad on a trading day. But what are these funds and how do they really affect the stock market? Mitchell Hartman explains the term in our latest Marketplace Decoder.

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  • Layoffs and lower costs are driving more students towards the virtual classroom. Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman reports on the state of online degree programs.

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  • Congress will grill the Treasury today on what small business is getting out of the $700 billion bailout. Mitchell Hartman reports for some small businesses, things have gotten worse since the financial bailout began.

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  • A new report ranks states by the climate for new economic growth. Mitchell Hartman reports why Massachusetts, Washington and Maryland, among others, provide a supportive environment for start-ups.

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  • Global Entrepreneurship Week has events in 77 countries. But is now the time to start a business, when the economy is shrinking? Mitchell Hartman finds out.

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  • The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a deal to buy a house for $1. The catch: the homes can only be sold to local governments for neighborhood rehabilitation. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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Mitchell Hartman