Robert D. Cooter (born May 2, 1945) is the Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law at the

University of California, Berkeley, School of Law The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of ...

. Cooter works in the field of

law and economics Law and economics, or economic analysis of law, is the application of microeconomic theory to the analysis of law, which emerged primarily from scholars of the Chicago school of economics. Economic concepts are used to explain the effects of laws ...

. He is co-editor of the ''International Review of Law and Economics'', and was among those convened by George Mason University Law School dean, Henry Manne, in January, 1990, to discuss organizing a professional association, prior to formation of the

American Law and Economics Association The American Law and Economics Association (ALEA), a United States organization founded in 1991, is focused on the advancement of economic understanding of law, and related areas of public policy and regulation. It promotes research in law and econo ...

; Cooter was subsequently elected as a founding board member, then served as its president for 1994. In 1999 he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

. "Not the Power to Destroy: An Effects Theory of the Tax Power," a paper Cooter coauthored with Neil S. Siegel (Duke Law professor), provided the legal framework for the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions ...

ruling on the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

in 2012.

Personal history

Cooter was born on May 2, 1945. He is married and has three grown children with his wife Blair. Cooter graduated from Swarthmore College in 1967 and attended Oxford University as a Fulbright Scholar from 1967–69, graduating with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1975. Cooter is the 2018 recipient of the Ronald H. Coase medal recognizing his contributions to the field of law & economics.

Academic career

Cooter began teaching in the Department of Economics at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1975, joining the Berkeley Law faculty in 1980. He has been a visiting member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

and a recipient of various awards and fellowships, including Guggenheim, the Jack N. Pritzker Visiting Research Professorship at Northwestern Law School, and, the Max Planck Research Prize. He was an Olin visiting professor at the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical ...

and lectured at the University of Cologne in 1989.

Research and publications

Recent publications include the sixth edition of the textbook "Law and Economics" (co-authored with Thomas Ulen), and "Solomon's Knot: How Law Can End the Poverty of Nations" (co-authored with Hans-Bernd Schäfer). Books * Robert D. Cooter and Hans-Bernd Schäfer. Solomon's Knot: How Law Can End the Poverty of Nations. Princeton University Press, 2012. * Robert D. Cooter and Thomas Ulen. Law and Economics. Pearson Series in Economics, 6th edition, 2012. Selected Articles * Robert D. Cooter. "Maturing into Normal Science: The Effect of Empirical Legal Studies on Law and Economics," University of Illinois Law Review, October 2011, Number 5, page 1475. * Robert D. Cooter and Michael D. Gilbert. "A Theory of Direct Democracy and the Single Subject Rule" A Theory of Direct Democracy and the Single Subject Rule 110 (2010): 687. * Robert D. Cooter and Brian Broughman. "Charity and Information: Correcting the Failure of a Disjunctive Social Norm" Michigan Journal of Law Reform 43 (2010): 871. * Robert D. Cooter and Neil Siegel. "Collective Action Federalism: A General Theory of Article I, Section 8" Stanford Law Review 63 (2010): 115–185. In October 2012, Cooter delivered the keynote address at the Eighth Annual Friedrich A. von Hayek Lecture, "Freedom, Innovation, and Intellectual Property," sponsored by the New York University Journal of Law and Liberty.

Non-academic projects

In 1999 Cooter joined two U.C. Berkeley economics professors, Aaron Edlin and Benjamin Hermalin, to create the online publishing platform called Berkeley Electronic Press, or Bepress. The current portfolio of Bepress includes ten peer-reviewed electronic journals, a platform called SelectedWorks for academics to create online professional pages, and the online law review paid submission program ExpressO.

Education

* B.A.,

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

(1967) * M.A.,

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

(1969) * Ph.D.,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

(1975)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooter, Robert 21st-century American economists Law and economics scholars Swarthmore College alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni UC Berkeley School of Law faculty Living people 1945 births