🌎 It’s World Press Freedom Day. Stand with Marketplace and our independent journalism. Donate now

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 (1,998)

Debate Night: It's the economy, smarty-pants

Oct 1, 2012
President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meet for a debate on domestic policy. According to moderator Jim Lehrer's notes, the first three topics will be: the economy, the economy, and the economy.

Pick-your-policy health care

Sep 27, 2012
Instead of offering policies to choose from, some big employers will be offering workers a lump sum and letting them shop for their own health care.

Savers among hardest hit by low interest rates

Sep 14, 2012
People who save may bear a disproportionate share of the burden in our insatiable appetite for low interest rates.

Topshop: From off-the-rack to off the virtual runway

Sep 13, 2012
Topshop, the London retailer, is offering something new at this year's spring 2013 fashion show. Consumers can buy items the models are wearing on the Topshop web site during the live-streamed show.

iPhone boom is short-term bust for wireless carriers

Sep 13, 2012
AT&T, Verizon and Sprint offer huge subsidies on new smartphones that hit bottom line.

Burberry profit warning signals luxury sales slide

Sep 11, 2012
Weeks of flat store sales at the high-end British clothier could be a sign that China's economic slowdown and Europe's debt crisis are ending a nearly three-year boom in demand for luxury goods.

The rise of the CEO pitchman

Sep 11, 2012
From Frank Perdue and his chickens to Lee Iacocca and his cars, product pitches by CEOs are not uncommon. But since Steve Jobs' performances at Apple, they've become part of the job description for tech CEO.

U.S. adds 96,000 jobs in August, unemployment drops to 8.1%

Sep 7, 2012
The August jobs numbers come below expectations, though the unemployment rate drops to 8.1 percent.

Waiting for the big jobs report

Sep 6, 2012
August job creation may have been good. But it's not clear any improvement can change voters' minds now.

Fashion Week and a ruling on red shoes

Sep 6, 2012
French designer Christian Louboutin wins trademark protection on red-soled women's shoes.