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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 (2,002)

Overpaying for bonds? Not as crazy as you'd think

Oct 26, 2010
It seems counterintuitive to pay the government for the privilege to lend to it, but investors did just that yesterday. Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman explains what they were thinking.

State university faculty, degree programs on chopping block

Oct 25, 2010
With federal stimulus money running out, states are facing huge budget deficits. State governments are now looking at public university systems to save money.

Burdens of wealth

Oct 22, 2010
With money comes a lot of responsibility, and that's what many have learned the hard way. Depending on how you got rich also seems to play a role in how you handle it. Mitchell Hartman reports.

AIG to sell Asian insurance business to pay back bailout

Oct 22, 2010
AIG will sell off its valuable Asian insurance business, a move that will jump start its plan to pay back more than a $100 billion in taxpayer bailout money. Mitchell Hartman reports.

Gov't probes foreclosure problems

Oct 20, 2010
A new government report looks into problems with foreclosures across the banking system. Reporter Mitchell Hartman talks with Jeremy Hobson about where we stand with the foreclosure problems.

Report: Donations to big charities down

Oct 18, 2010
A report out this morning from the Chronicle of Philanthropy says philanthropists are not giving as much. In the midst of the Great Recession, donations were down last year by double-digits. Now that decline has hit the country's biggest charities. Reporter Mitchell Hartman talks the details with Steve Chiotakis.

Start-up investing slow to come back

Oct 15, 2010
One of the most important sources of jobs going forward will be start-ups -- developing everything from new software and Internet tools, to more efficient batteries and life-saving drugs. But investment in start-ups has fallen sharply since before the recession, and it's taking a while to come back. Mitchell Hartman reports.

Economists win Nobel for "search theory"

Oct 11, 2010
Three economists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for helping to explain why big, complex markets -- like for houses or jobs -- don't always do a good job of matching buyers and sellers.

Jobs numbers: 'Steady but certainly disappointing'

Oct 8, 2010
If you take a closer look at the jobs added in September to keep the unemployment rate steady, many of the jobs are low-paying, temporary jobs -- not exactly the jobs of a recovery.

New safety guidelines for Boeing's new 787

Oct 5, 2010
The FAA announced a rule on how far back other planes should be from the new plane.