Thomas F. Cooley is the Paganelli-Bull Professor of Economics at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, as well as a Professor of Economics in the NYU Faculty of Arts and Science. He served as Dean of the Stern School from 2002 to January 2010. Before joining Stern, he was a Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester, University of Pennsylvania, and UC Santa Barbara. Prior to his academic career, he was a systems engineer for IBM Corporation. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also the former President of the Society for Economic Dynamics, a Fellow of the Econometric Society and holds an honorary doctorate from the Stockholm School of Economics. He is a widely published scholar in the areas of macroeconomic theory, monetary theory and policy and the financial behavior of firms. He also writes opinion columns for Forbes.com, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal.

Peter Rupert is a professor of economics and Chairman of the UCSB Department of Economics.  He is also Associate Director of the UCSB Laboratory for Aggregate Economics and Finance, founded by Nobel Laureate Finn E. Kydland, as well as Executive Director of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project.  Prior to joining UCSB, Dr. Rupert spent 12 years as Senior Economic Adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.  Dr. Rupert has held appointments at the University of Western Ontario, State University of New York at Buffalo, West Virginia University, the University of Southern California, and Birkbeck College, University of London.  Dr. Rupert earned his B.S. from Santa Clara University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Rochester.  His areas of specialization include macroeconomics, monetary economics, economic of the criminal justice system,  labor, and household economics.

Zach Bethune is a Ph.D. student at the University of California - Santa Barbara. His areas of research include macroeconomic theory, business cycles, and labor markets.

Valerie Bostwick is a Ph.D. student at the University of California - Santa Barbara.