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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 (1,999)

Among the winners in 2012? Pollsters

Nov 8, 2012
Polls drew a lot of eyeballs to media sites this election, but creating a good poll isn't so easy.

The 8-percent rule: Can Obama win with high unemployment?

Nov 5, 2012
Since World War II, incumbent presidents have been defeated in election years when the unemployment rate is above 7.5 percent. What does that mean for President Obama and October's 7.9 percent unemployment rate?

New jobs report offers a last word on economy before election

Nov 2, 2012
Depending on political spins and eventual revisions, the final Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report before the presidential election, could be good or bad for whoever wins.

UPDATED: Superstorm Sandy: Doing the numbers

Oct 30, 2012
As Hurricane Sandy makes it's way up the East Coast of the United States, damage estimates of $10 to $20 billion are beginning to trickle in.

Betting on stormy weather

Oct 29, 2012
Weather derivatives allow companies to hedge against catastrophic losses.