David Colander received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and was the Christian A. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Economics at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont from 1982 until 2013, when he was appointed Distinguished College Professor at Middlebury. In 2001-2002 he was the Kelly Professor of Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. He has authored, co-authored, or edited over 40 books and 200 articles on a wide range of topics. His books have been translated into a number of different languages, including Chinese, Bulgarian, Polish, Italian, and Spanish. He has been president of both the Eastern Economic Association and History of Economic Thought Society and has been on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including the Journal of Economic Perspectives and the Journal of Economic Education.

Elgin Hunt is deceased. He was one of the early authors of this book when it began in the 1930s, and took over as sole author in the 1950s. He continued revising the book until the late 1970s, when David Colander took over.