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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 (2,000)

The problem behind the business of installment loans

May 13, 2013
World Finance of Greenville, S.C., rakes in half-a-billion dollars a year providing small loans to subprime borrowers. Thanks to an ever-deepening cycle of debt, business is good.

On Victory Drive, soldiers defeated by debt: The story from Propublica

May 13, 2013
A federal law is supposed to protect service members from predatory lending. But lenders exploit loopholes, trapping military personnel in high-interest debt.

Home makeovers: What to rennovate before putting your house on the market

Apr 12, 2013
Now that the housing market is picking up, making improvements on your home is worth it if you want to put it on the market. Which ones pay off in a quicker sale?

T-Mobile's bet: Customers will pay more for phones

Mar 26, 2013
What’s the cost of an iPhone? $200, if you pay for the rest of it through a two-year wireless contract. Now T-Mobile plans to upend the business model, asking customers to pay the true cost of the phone, and probably lower monthly wireless bills. Will their plan work with customers?

Sit down, eat out? Not so much.

Mar 21, 2013
Darden Restaurants, owners of casual dining chains Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse, saw profit fall 18 percent last quarter as sales slipped almost 5 percent.

Could big banks help rein in payday lenders?

Mar 20, 2013
Payday lenders circumvented state laws by moving online, and in the process big banks became enablers (and potentially profited) from payday lending. Now Chase is making changes to protect its customers from payday lenders. Will other banks follow?

The new U.S. veteran: Young and looking for work

Mar 20, 2013
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released data on unemployment among U.S. veterans, and the numbers aren't pretty. A big part of the problem: Many recent veterans are in a demographic which is suffering joblessness already -- young Americans.

Caffeine gum could give Wrigley a jolt

Mar 8, 2013
Wrigley plans to start selling “Alert” gum next month -- that is, gum with caffeine. Gum sales overall are down, and “energy” products are booming. But cities, states and the FDA are investigating caffeine marketing to kids.

The sequester vs. the jobs recovery

Mar 8, 2013
The Labor Department's jobs report for February is expected to be decent: Signs are that the labor market continues to improve. Aren't the sequester's budget cuts going to have any effect?

Housing revives, and so do home improvement chains

Mar 7, 2013
As home prices rise, more owners are preparing housing for sale -- and construction companies and building supply chains are hiring again.