About the Authors
JOHN E. SILVIA
John Silvia is a managing director and the chief economist for Wells Fargo. Prior to his current position, John worked on Capitol Hill as senior economist for the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and as chief economist for the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Before that, he was chief economist of Kemper Funds and managing director of Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc. John was formerly a director of NABE and was former president of the Charlotte Economics Club. He has also served on economic advisory committees to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the Public Securities Association.
John was awarded a NABE Fellow Certificate of Recognition in 2011 for outstanding contributions to the Business Economics Profession and Leadership Among Business Economists to the Nation. For the second time in three years, he was awarded the best overall forecast by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago as well as the best unemployment rate forecast for 2011. John has been awarded the Adolph Abramson award for the best article in economics published in Business Economics for a given year. John holds B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Northeastern University in Boston and has a master's degree in economics from Brown University. John's book Dynamic Economic Decision Making was published by John Wiley & Sons in August 2011.
AZHAR IQBAL
Azhar Iqbal is an econometrician at Wells Fargo and is responsible for providing quantitative analysis to the Economics group, including modeling and forecasting of macro and financial variables. He also teaches advanced business and economic forecasting to graduate students at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He was previously an economist and course instructor at the Applied Economics Research Center at the University of Karachi in Pakistan, teaching econometrics, microeconomics, and urban economics. He has also worked as an economist at the United Nations, at the Arif-Habib Investment Bank, and for projects funded by the government of Pakistan.
Azhar received his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Punjab and has three master's degrees. He earned his master's degree in economic forecasting from the University at Albany, State University of New York, where he also earned a Certificate of Graduate Study in economic forecasting. He also has master's degrees in applied science and applied economics from the University of Karachi, and in econometrics and mathematics from the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan.
His interests focus on forecasting, time series, panel data, and macroeconomics. Azhar has presented research papers at the American Economic Association, Econometric Society meetings, the Panel Data Conference, and other international conferences. He has published several papers in the Canadian Journal of Economics, Global Economy Journal, Business Economics, and other refereed articles listed in the Journal of Economic Literature.
KAYLYN SWANKOSKI
Kaylyn Swankoski is currently pursuing a graduate degree in economics at Duke University. Previously she worked as an economic analyst at Wells Fargo Securities. She received her B.A. in economics from Elon University in North Carolina.
SARAH WATT
Sarah Watt is an economist with Wells Fargo Securities. She received her B.A. in economics and political economy from Tulane University and her MSc from the London School of Economics. Sarah is a member of the National Association of Business Economics and the Charlotte Economics Club.
SAM BULLARD
Sam Bullard is a managing director and senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities, providing analysis on the macro U.S. economy, major foreign economies, and the financial markets. Sam has a BBA in finance from the University of Georgia (1994) and an MBA from Wake Forest University (2006). His work has been published in Business Economics, and his comments on the economy regularly appear in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, Associated Press, and Reuters. Sam is a member of the National Association of Business Economics and the Charlotte Economics Club.