Michael E. Kanell, senior economics writer at the AJC, has been reporting on jobs, housing and the economy for two decades. In that role, he has appeared on television and radio talk shows and panel discussions to analyze and report on the region's business and economic developments. Before coming to Atlanta, he covered business and technology for newspapers in Boston and around New England. During the 1980s, he reported from Central America, writing about civil wars and revolutions in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, the refugee crisis in southern Mexico and the status of Cuba, after a quarter-century of revolution and isolation. He is the co-author of "Presimetrics: What the Facts Tell Us About How the Presidents Measure Up On the Issues We Care About," a data-driven comparison of the performance of American presidents since World War II. He has a bachelor's degree in history from Princeton University and a juris doctor degree from Boston University.