Short answers, pulled from the story.
John J. McCusker is an American economic historian born in 1939, known for his research on colonial Atlantic trade, money, and the origins of the business press. He holds the Ewing Halsell Distinguished Professorship of American History and a professorship in Economics at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
McCusker studied at the University of Rochester under Robert W. Fogel, at University College London under Harry C. Allen, and at the University of Pittsburgh, where Carter Goodrich directed his doctoral dissertation. He received his doctorate in 1970.
McCusker's major works include Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775 (1978), The Economy of British America, 1607-1789 (1985, co-authored with Russell Menard), Rum and the American Revolution (1989), The Beginnings of Commercial and Financial Journalism (1991, co-authored with Cora Gravesteijn), and How Much Is That in Real Money? (1992). Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic World appeared in 1997.
The Economy of British America, 1607-1789 received two honors: Choice named it an Outstanding Academic Book for 1985-1986, and the Society of Colonial Wars gave it a Distinguished Book Award, Honorable Mention.
McCusker taught at the University of Maryland, College Park for twenty-four years before moving to Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in 1992.
Robert W. Fogel was an economist at the University of Rochester who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1993. McCusker studied under Fogel during his graduate work, gaining early grounding in quantitative and economic approaches to historical questions.