Jay Zagorsky

I am a cross-disciplinary researcher who has spent over decades researching a writing about a wide variety of topics. My latest book “The Power of Cash: Why Using Paper Money is Good For You and Society” explains why the rush toward electronic payments is not in everyone’s best interest. More information on this book is found at https://www.thepowerofcash.com/.

I have also written a large number of articles investigating why some people become rich, others are poor and some move between these two states. I am currently synthesizing this research into a book that presents the results of my academic research and other wealth researchers in an accessible format. Much of my wealth research is based on data gathered from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS). These surveys have followed thousands of people from the time they were teenagers until the ends of their lives. I served at Ohio State University for 23 years as the survey’s Research Scientist. Beyond my wealth research, I worked as a big data scientist who investigated numerous issues in education for the Ohio Educational Research Center (OERC).

For a number of years in addition to my academic research I have written shorter more popular pieces for magazines, newspapers and websites. I am a writer and columnist for TheConversation.com, an edited website where paid professional journalists work with academics to deliver news and analysis. I am one of the most prolific writer’s for TheConversation’s U.S. edition, with 115 articles. My articles written for this website have been read by millions of people. These articles have been widely republished in places like the Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, Newsweek as well as online in sites like Quartz and Salon. In addition I maintain personal blogs at both Ohio State and Boston University that receive extensive traffic.

Beyond my writing for TheConversation I have published articles in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Boston Globe, Fast Company and other outlets like The Academic Minute. I have also done an extremely large number of interviews, radio talk shows and television appearances about my academic research, with a search using Google News showing thousands of mentions.

Last,, I have taught extensively in both business and liberal arts colleges. My lectures cover a wide variety of economics, statistics, quantitative methods and information system topics. I have taught over 150 full-semester university courses and graded over 12,000 college students in classes ranging from giant lectures of over 650 students to small seminars. In addition, I have taught numerous short classes on specialized topics. All my teaching has been rewarded by consistently excellent evaluations and a number of awards. I have also written three textbooks; one on macroeconomics; one on managerial economics; and one on finding data to run a business.