Cosgrove, Michael H. 1943(?)-

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COSGROVE, Michael H. 1943(?)-

PERSONAL: Born c. 1943, in Cherokee, IA; son of Merlin (a farmer) and Florence (a homemaker) Cosgrove; married, wife's name Kathy (a certified public accountant); children: Kelly, Sean. Education: South Dakota State University, B.S.; University of Arizona, M.S.; Ohio State University, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Office—The Econoclast, Inc., 3419 Westminster, Ste. 251, Dallas, TX 75205. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Economist and writer. Gulf Oil, Houston, TX, director of strategy development, 1977–87; Econoclast, Inc., Dallas, TX, founder and principal, 1979–; University of Dallas, Irving, TX, associate professor, 1987–.

WRITINGS:

The Cost of Winning: Global Development Policies and Broken Social Contracts, Transaction Publishers (New Brunswick, NJ), 1996.

Contributor to numerous professional journals, including Futures Research Quarterly, Seoul Journal of Economics, and Journal of Business Strategy.

SIDELIGHTS: Economist and author Michael H. Cosgrove has had a long career of advising, teaching, and writing about economic and financial issues. He grew up in Iowa and earned a doctorate in economics at Ohio State University. After holding a variety of positions at Gulf Oil and General Electric, Cosgrove founded Econoclast, Inc., an economic consulting firm with industrial and money-management clients. He is also an associate professor at the University of Dallas's Graduate School of Business, where he specializes in economics. Cosgrove is frequently quoted in a number of financial newspapers and magazines and has been a contributing writer to many professional publications.

In 1996 Cosgrove published his first book, The Cost of Winning: Global Development Policies and Broken Social Contracts. In this work, he argues that the United States is in an economic decline as a result of serving as the world's economic leader for so long after World War II. Cosgrove writes that by engaging in a cold war with the Soviet Union, the United States placed economic and social costs on its citizens. He offers solutions to bolster the country's economic situation, including a decrease in government size, privatization of Social Security, and replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax.

Overall, critics and readers met The Cost of Winning with interest and praise. Many reviewers found Cosgrove's ideas and theories to be bold and provocative. "His controversial views make for stimulating reading," wrote Christian Science Monitor contributor David R. Francis. Others acknowledged the book's extensive use of economic data. "It relies on others for facts and statistics and that makes it a good source to find lots of information and summarized statistics," observed Merrill Matthews, Jr., in a review for Business Economics.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

BondWeek, May 15, 2000, "Econ Sees Dark Side to Better Inventory Management," review of The Cost of Winning: Global Development Policies and Broken Social Contracts, p. 6.

Business Economics, July, 1997, Merrill Matthews, Jr., review of The Cost of Winning, p. 75.

Christian Science Monitor, May 20, 1997, David R. Francis, "Losing the War at Home," review of The Cost of Winning, p. 9.

Review of Social Economy, spring, 1998, Jerry L. Petr, review of The Cost of Winning, p. 83.

Wall Street Journal, July 1, 1996, Fred R. Bleakley, "'Econoclast' Wins Rate-Forecast Race by Keeping Eye on the Price of Gold," p. 2.