Bio & Photo

Dr. Smith has over 35 years of experience as an economic forecaster. He brings extensive knowledge from working in various sectors of the economy including: retail (Sears Roebuck); manufacturing (Union Carbide); government (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and President’s Council of Economic Advisers); real estate associations (the National Association of REALTORS® and the Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS®) as well as academia (Professor of Finance at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill).

As Chief Economist at Parsec Financial, Jim provides information on the economic outlook to the firm’s partners and clients. He also writes a subscription-only, quarterly economic analysis and blog for his website (EconForecaster.com). A native of Dallas, Texas, Dr. Smith earned all three of his economics degrees from Southern Methodist University. He is past president and an active member of several economics groups, including the National Association for Business Economics and the National Business Economic Issues Council as well as past co-chair of the European Council of Economists.

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Guest Bloggers

Bill Dunkelberg

Currently Professor of Economics in the College of Literature and Arts, Temple University, Dr. Dunkelberg is a nationally known authority on small business, entrepreneurship, consumer behavior and consumer credit and government policy. He is an elected member of the Conference of Business Economists (and chairman in 2003) and the National Business Economic Issues Council and the first recipient of the Small Business Administration’s Research Advocate of the Year award. He was reported by the New York Times to be one of four final candidates for Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1981, served as an advisor to the Secretary of Commerce, and was appointed to the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve System in 1989 [2 year term].

Bill currently serves as Chief Economist for the National Federation of Independent Business (600,000 member firms) and as Economic Strategist, Boenning & Scattergood.

View Bill’s complete biography.

Click here to download a high-resolution photo of Bill.