Welcome to my website! I'm an economist, historian, and journalist with a long track record of writing and speaking about economic and business issues. Although I have opinions about almost everything -- I am, after all, a former editorial page editor -- I specialize in trade and international economics, finance and financial regulation, transportation, and energy and environmental affairs. I've had the pleasure of speaking on these subjects to both academic and non-academic audiences in many countries. My book The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, received many awards and has been widely translated, and The Economist Guide to Financial Markets, another book I wrote, is now in its fifth edition.

My latest book is The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America. The book explores the fascinating history of the chain store wars, when politicians of all stripes supported a government crack-down on chains because their efficiency and low prices threatened the survival of independent retailers. The Wall Street Journal selected it as one of the ten best nonfiction books of 2011.

The links on the left will bring you to my biography, to information about my books, to some of my recent articles, and my contact information.