Biographical Profile

Joel L. Naroff, Ph. D.

Joel L. NaroffJoel L. Naroff is the President and founder of Naroff Economics, LLC, a strategic economic consulting firm. He advises companies from a wide range of industries on the risks and opportunities that economic developments may have on the organization’s operating environment.

Joel is the author, with veteran reporter Ron Scherer, of Big Picture Economics: How to Navigate the New Global Economy, published in April 2014. The book, written for everyone, provides a roadmap for decoding the mysteries of a tumultuous economy. It helps people put the pieces together and form frameworks for future decision-making.

Joel works with firms across the country. He is an economic advisor to  TDn2k, Emerald Asset Management, Investors Bank and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, Realtors. He consults with banks on asset/liability, economic growth and credit risk issues, corporations on economic risk as well as business and marketing opportunities. He is an economic and financial advisor to state and local governments. He has testified in front of Congress on economic and fiscal policy matters.

A nationally recognized economic forecasting expert, Joel has received numerous honors.  For the last six years, he was a Crystal Ball Award winner of the Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey.  He has twice received the National Association for Business Economics Outlook Award as the top economic forecaster. NABE is the premier professional association for business economists and those who use economics in the workplace.  He is a recipient of the Lawrence Klein Award for Blue Chip forecasting excellence. This is one of the oldest and most prestigious forecasting honors. It is named after the Nobel Laureate in Economics who received the award in 1980 for the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuation and economic policies. He was also named the Bloomberg Business News 2008 top economic forecaster. In 2006, Joel was MSNBC’s the top forecaster. He was the first independent economist to win the CBS MarketWatch Economist of the Month award.

Joel is often quoted in the national press, including Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Financial Times and Newsweek. Internationally, his materials are quoted by almost every national news agency. He appears frequently on CNBC, Fox Business News and Bloomberg Television. In addition, he has been on ABC’s The World News Tonight, The CBS Evening News, The News Hour, The Wall Street Journal Report, BNN in Canada, and local television stations throughout the Northeast. His materials are quoted by news agencies around the world. Joel writes a column and a blog for the Philadelphia Inquirer, does business commentary for KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia and can be heard often on the national news radio networks.

An accomplished public speaker, Joel’s humor and unique ability to make economics understandable have brought him a wide following. His presentations on national, international, regional and industry topics show how evolving economic trends can impact businesses, governments, educational institutions and not for profits.

From 1999 to 2009, Joel served on a consulting basis as Chief Economist for Commerce Bank/TD Bank. Before that he was Chief Economist at First Union Bank and First Fidelity Bancorp. Prior to moving into banking, Joel was a tenured professor in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Joel received bachelors degrees in economics and chemistry from Stony Brook University and his Ph.D. in economics from Brown University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, teaches at the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking and the Pennsylvania Bankers Advanced School of Banking, is a past Chair of the American Bankers Association’s Economic Advisory Committee and is a past President of the Philadelphia Council of Business Economists.

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