Early years

Smetters was raised in Ohio. He received his bachelor's degrees in Economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 and Computer Science

Computer science

Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

 from the Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

 in 1990, and Master and PhD degrees in Economics from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1992 and 1995 respectively.

Academics

Smetters is a Professor of Insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 and Risk Management

Risk management

Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities...

 at the University of Pennsylvania's

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 Wharton School of Business and the Joseph E. and Ruth E. Boettner Professor of Financial Gerontology. Financial Gerontology

Financial Gerontology

Financial gerontology is a study of aging and related financial and business impacts. One of the primary interests is: As the lifespan of baby boomers and their parents lengthening, what would be the right approach for retirement planning....

 is the study of aging and related financial and business impacts, applying the functionality of gerontology to the concepts of financial planning. Professor Smetters has written on government debt

Debt

A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...

 and Social Security

Social Security (United States)

In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...

 policy and has a strong interest in financial planning, analyzing relationships between the economic wellbeing of the elderly and their social, legal, psychological, physical, and environmental well-being. Smetters has also written about the need for insurance industry reform and supports the notion that the private sector should provide terrorism insurance

Terrorism insurance

Terrorism insurance is insurance purchased by property owners to cover their potential losses and liabilities that might occur due to terrorist activities....

 or protection instead of government. He has held visiting appointments with the Department of Economics at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. Smetters has also published several papers and chapters with the National Bureau of Economic Research

National Bureau of Economic Research

The National Bureau of Economic Research is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community." The NBER is well known for providing start and end...

., where he continues to be a Research Associate in Public Economics and Faculty Research Fellow for the Aging Program. Since 2000, he has been with the Michigan Retirement Research Center as a Research Associate.

Government and Policy

From 1995-1999, Smetters was an Economist at the Congressional Budget Office

Congressional Budget Office

The Congressional Budget Office is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides economic data to Congress....

. In 1999, he served as a Consultant for the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

. He became Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy of the United States Treasury in 2001, where he stayed on for another year as a Consultant. He was also a Member of the Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Dynamic Scoring, U.S. Congress from 2002-2003. He is a visiting scholar of the American Enterprise Institute

American Enterprise Institute

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...

 for Public Policy Research.

RotoHog

He co-founded Sports Composite DE, Inc. with David Wu

David Wu (entrepreneur)

David Wu is co-founder and President of Sports Composite DE, Inc, which launched the online fantasy sports website RotoHog in February 2007...

 in 2006 which developed the RotoHog

RotoHog

RotoHog is the consumer facing Fantasy Sports website for Fastpoint Games, a digital platform developer that designs, implements and markets fantasy services for media and advertising partners...

 fantasy sports game. RotoHog is a digital platform developer that designs, implements and markets fantasy services for media and advertising partners. The company builds, delivers and manages co-branded fantasy sports games for major media companies, sports companies and professional sports leagues.

RotoHog is also the provider of nba.com's NBA Stock Exchange and commissioner games. In 2009, RotoHog began to provide games for Fox Sports in Spanish and the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball tour. Smetters is no longer with the company but serves on the Board of Advisors.

Veritat Advisors, Inc

After several years in the financial industry, Smetters co-founded the company Veritat Advisors. Smetters is the President of Veritat Advisors.

Veritat positions itself as one of the first financial advisory firms to deliver full-service and objective financial planning  at an affordable price. A key competitive feature of Veritat is its simple and transparent pricing.

Publications

• Ricardian Equivalence: Long-Run Leviathan. (Journal of Public Economics 73: 395-421, 1999).
• Co-author of Privatizing Social Security in the U.S. ­— Comparing the Options. (Review of Economic Dynamics 2: 532-574, 1999).
• Co-author of Simulating Fundamental Tax Reform in the U.S. (American Economic Review 91.3: 574-595 June, 2001).
• The Dynamic Properties of the Neoclassical Growth Model with CES Production. (Review of Economic Dynamics 6,3: 697-707 2003).
• Co-author of Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: New Budget Measures for New Budget Priorities (American Enterprise Institute Press, 2003)
• Co-editor with Dr. Olivia Mitchell
  Olivia S. Mitchell
  Olivia S. Mitchell is an American economist and Professor and Chair of the at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a leading academic in the field of pension and social security, and she directs the , the oldest U.S. center devoted to scholarship and policy-relevant...
  
  , of The Pension Challenge: Risk Transfers and Retirement Income Security (Oxford University Press, 2004).
• Co-author of Opting Out of Social Security (Journal of Public Economics 88: 1295-1306, 2004).
• Co-author of Consumption Taxes, Risk Sharing and Economic Efficiency (Journal of Political Economy 113(5): 1088–1115, October 2005).
• Sharing Financial Risks across Non-Trading Generations: A Decentralized Alternative to Government Ownership of Private Equities (Journal of Monetary Economics 53(7),2006)
• The Optimal Design of Social Security Benefits (Michigan Retirement Research Center, Paper No. 2008-197, September 2008)
• He has written extensively for The Wall Street Journal and other public media, in addition to dozens of academic research papers and book chapters.

Awards

• Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 1990–93;
• TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson, Certificate of Excellence, 2002;
• Robert C. Witt Award for the best paper published in the Journal of Risk and Insurance, 2000