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 (2,012)

Inventories drop as sales plummet

Jan 14, 2009
The Commerce Department says business inventories were down for a third straight month in November. Businesses put orders on hold as sales continued a downward spiral. Mitchell Hartman reports.

Small business owners still optimistic

Jan 13, 2009
In a survey out by the National Small Business Association, many members expect deteriorating sales and job cuts. Still, there's an undercurrent of tenacious optimism. Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman explores why.

House takes up pay discrimination

Jan 9, 2009
The House is expected to pass a pair of civil rights bills today designed to give workers more power to sue over alleged pay discrimination. Mitchell Hartman explains why now is an important time for fairness law.

Buying the company when it's down

Jan 2, 2009
Investors looking for opportunity in a distressed market can find it in cheap company debt. But buyer beware: Something put that company into trouble to begin with, and it's wise to understand what. Mitchell Hartman reports.

How about a stimulus plan for Pluto?

Dec 31, 2008
None of the experts are doing a particularly good job of predicting how the economy is going to turn out next year. So we sent Mitchell Hartman to check out what astrology has to say about our economic fate.

Stock buybacks cause setbacks

Dec 30, 2008
Companies may have thought buying back their own stock was a good idea a few years ago. But as Mitchell Hartman reports, those companies that used borrowed money to finance those buybacks are in trouble now.

So what's a hedge fund?

Dec 29, 2008
Hedge funds seem to make headlines when things go bad on a trading day. But what are these funds and how do they really affect the stock market? Mitchell Hartman explains the term in our latest Marketplace Decoder.

Lego's building a big profit

Dec 24, 2008
While most retailers are experiencing a dismal holiday shopping season, Lego may see a record gain in U.S. sales this year. Mitchell Hartman explains why the construction toy company is building a profit.

Portland retailers stuck in the cold

Dec 23, 2008
It's been a dismal holiday season for retailers. Consumer spending is down, and the bad weather isn't helping matters. Mitchell Hartman reports on how business owners in Portland are coping with a chilly holiday shopping season.

Laid-off employees get litigious

Dec 22, 2008
Employers hoping to cut costs are laying off workers across the nation. But laid-off employees who feel they've been wrongfully terminated aren't going down easily. They're fighting back -- with workplace discrimination lawsuits. Mitchell Hartman reports.