Allen W. Smith

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Allen W. Smith has devoted much of his adult life to battling economic illiteracy and promoting economic education. He taught economics to college students for 30 years before retiring as Professor of Economics at Eastern Illinois University in 1998 to become a full-time writer. Over the years, Smith has written numerous books in his effort to help readers understand economics and government economic policy. Understanding Inflation and Unemployment, Smith’s first book, became an alternate selection of Fortune Book Club when it was published in 1976. Understanding Economics, published by Random House in 1986, was used in more than 600 schools in 48 states.

In recent years, Smith has focused his research and writing on government finance and Social Security. He published The Alleged Budget Surplus, Social Security, and Voodoo Economics in 2000, The Looting of Social Security: How the Government is Draining America’s Retirement Account in 2004, and Social Security: The Attempt to Kill It in 2005. In 2008, Dr. Smith published a third edition of his popular layman’s guide to economics, Demystifying Economics: The Book That Makes Economics Accessible to Everyone.

Dr. Smith has discussed economics and Social Security on national television, and he has been a guest on more than 100 radio talk shows. He holds a B.S. in Education degree from Ball State University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Indiana University.