The zombie craze has infiltrated legal blogs, college courses and even disease control and prevention, but the work done by two faculty members of the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge and their colleagues is the first to bring economic reasoning to bear on the undead phenomenon.

Economics professor Glen Whitman and finance professor James Dow will provide their apocalyptic economic expertise when they discuss their book, “Economics of the Undead: Zombies, Vampires and the Dismal Science,” on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 5:30 p.m. at an outdoor signing event between Juniper Hall and Noski Auditorium on the west side of the CSUN campus near Plummer Street and Etiwanda Avenue.

“Economic issues take center stage in many undead narratives — and when they don’t, they’re still lurking in the shadows,” said Whitman and Dow in the book’s introduction. The book has been featured in coverage by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and is the focus of a growing number of online blogs and reviews, as well as a forthcoming episode of “Freakonomics Radio”.

In their book, the duo discuss everything from economics and business law to taxation and other relevant domains for chapters such as “To Truck, Barter…and Eat Brains!!!: Pursuing Prosperity in a Post-productive World,” “Investigating Secrets of the Undead,” “Zombification Insurance,” “Monsters of Capital: Vampires, Zombies and Consumerism,” “Taxation of the Undead: Nonsentient Entities” and “Tragedy of the Blood Commons: The Case for Privatizing the Humans.”

They ask questions such as, “Is there enough food to fill all those hungry mouths? Do humans have the resources, mental and physical, it takes to survive? Will people be able to cooperate with others to fight a collective threat — or will humanity descend into chaos and disorder?”

An expert in microeconomics, applied game theory and economic analysis of law, Whitman has been a member the CSUN faculty since earning his Ph.D. from New York University in 2000 and has numerous publications and scholarly presentations at leading academic conferences to his credit. He is also an active and accomplished television writer, having written for shows “Fringe” and “Matador.”

Dow holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and is a former economist for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and chair of CSUN’s Department of Finance, Financial Planning and Insurance. His scholarly work in the areas of household financial management and the institutional economics of financial structure has been widely published.

For more information about the event, visit the Nazarian College’s website.

College of Business and Economics, David Nazarian College of Business and Economics, Undead