An economist and writer, born in Ohio in the United States. She attended Oberlin College, which specializes in teaching liberal arts and sciences in Ohio, before joining the same state university, and then obtained her doctorate in 1980 with a thesis entitled The Value of Local Urban Facilities. She became president and founder of the Roth Institute, an organization that advocates for the repercussions of changes in the world, and she also appeared in several documentaries, such as There's a Murderer in the Closet! (1983) and Ice on Fire (2019).