Andrew Zimbalist


Andrew S. Zimbalist is a U.S. economist. He is the Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College.

Biography

Zimbalist received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in 1969 and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1972 and 1974 respectively. He has been in the Economics Department at Smith College since 1974. He has consulted in Latin America for the United Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency for International Development and numerous companies, and he has consulted in the sports industry for players' associations, teams, cities, companies and leagues. He has published several dozen articles and twenty-four books. He did a biweekly commentary on the business of sports for National Public Radio's Marketplace between 2002 and 2005, and appears regularly with commentary on sports and public policy in the national media. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Sports Economics. He is author of "Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup" and was one of the leading critics of the Boston 2024 Olympic bid, serving as an adviser to the "No Boston Olympics" activist group. In the mid-1990s Zimbalist was one of the co-founders of the United Baseball League which was a planned third major league.

Family

Zimbalist's eldest son, Jeff, is a documentary filmmaker, along with his second son, Michael. He also has two twin children named Alex and Ella Zimbalist. He lives with his wife Shelley, Alex and Ella in Northampton, Ma.