The author was born in  Central America,, the son of evangelical missionaries.  His home  in a remote area at the time had no car roads, medical facilities, or sewage systems.  The writer left home at 13 to attend high school in the U. S.  After graduating from Wheaton  College, Wheaton, Illinois, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy on an aircraft carrier for  three years. He attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania in public policy and Columbia University in New York city in economics.  He served as an economist for 10 years at a commercial bank in New York city and for 22 years at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.