🍻 Our final KaiPA pint glasses are available NOW to anyone who donates to our nonprofit newsroom. 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 (1,999)

NASDAQ bows out of bid for NYSE, clearing way for Deutsche Boerse

May 16, 2011
Deutsche Boerse became the front runner to buy the New York Stock Exchange today after NASDAQ withdrew their bid, citing antitrust concerns.

Treasury strives to avoid U.S. debt default

May 16, 2011
As the default deadline looms ahead in early August, the U.S. Treasury is moving money around in federal accounts to keep paying bills.

Consumers willing to spend at higher-end retailers

May 13, 2011
Earnings at chains like Macy's and Nordstrom are up and markdowns aren't as steep as they used to be.

High gas prices start to hit the economy

May 12, 2011
Recent hikes in gas prices are taking their toll on the economy as hard-pressed American consumers start to curtail their spending.

U.S. exports jump, but trade gap widens

May 11, 2011
Oil imports, up nearly 20 percent because of price increases, erase best export mark in nearly 20 years.

The art of the elevator pitch

May 10, 2011
Students from all over the world were invited to give their 60-second elevator pitch via YouTube for MIT's annual entrepreneurial competition this year.

Class of 2011 wary of job prospects

May 6, 2011
The job market may be picking up, but many soon-to-be college graduates still feel uncertain about landing a job after graduation.

Teens face high unemployment

May 6, 2011
As high schools graduate another class, teens face a tough search for their first adult job.

Small business owners tussle with health care reform decisions

Apr 25, 2011
Small business owners across the country are trying to figure out their best financial options in how to provide their employees with health insurance, come the health care reform mandates in 2014.

Is health reform unleashing an entrepreneurial wave?

Apr 22, 2011
Under the Obama health plan, it's supposed to get easier to find and keep affordable insurance if you leave a job and strike out as an individual entrepreneur. But is that actually happening?