About the Authors

Joel L. Naroff is the president and founder of Naroff Economic Advisors, a strategic economic consulting firm. He advises companies across the country on the risks and opportunities that economic developments may have on the organization's operating environment. Joel has been the chief economist for a number of large financial institutions, and prior to moving into banking, he was a tenured professor in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

An accomplished public speaker, Joel's humor and unique ability to make economics understandable have brought him a wide following. His presentations on national, international, regional, and industry topics show how evolving economic trends can impact businesses, governments, educational institutions, and not-for-profits. It was from these speeches that the book was born.

A nationally recognized economic forecasting expert, Joel has received numerous honors, including the Lawrence Klein Award for Blue Chip forecasting excellence. He has twice received the National Association for Business Economics Outlook Award as the top economic forecaster as well as the Bloomberg Business News top economic forecaster award. He is often quoted in the national press, appears frequently on television, writes a column called “Random Economics” for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and does business commentary for KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia.

Since all work and no play makes economists even more boring, Joel spends his spare time at his second home in Margate, New Jersey, where he rides his bike as much as possible. He is married to Cindy, an English teacher, and has one son, Adam, who is a music teacher.

Ron Scherer is a veteran journalist who lives and works in New York City. His distinctive writing style has appeared on the pages of The Christian Science Monitor for 37 years. He has written major series for the Monitor, covered breaking news such as 9/11, and written about the economy on a daily basis.

A graduate of Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, Ron has worked for United Press International and U.S. News & World Report, where he led the New York bureau.

The bulk of his journalistic endeavors have been at the Monitor, where he worked on the financial pages and covered economic policy in the Reagan White House. In Washington, Ron's horizons broadened beyond business and finance to trade, energy, the budget, and taxes. After four years, Ron moved to Sydney, Australia, to cover the South Pacific region.

After moving back to New York, Ron has focused on breaking news for the Monitor's online publication and longer trend pieces for the Christian Science Monitor Weekly, such as the 2013 cover story, “Ride On!” about the surge in cycling in American cities. After 37 years at the Monitor, he retired in July 2013.

Ron has written freelance articles for Global Finance magazine and New York magazine. He has appeared as a guest host on CNN Financial and has been interviewed by radio stations around the nation.

Ron, an avid sailor, can be found on Long Island Sound in the summer trimming the sails on SeaKap, while his wife, Kathy Simmons, pilots the yacht.