In Memoriam

Professor Richard N. Cooper was Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics at Harvard University and held the position from 1981-2021.

Previously, he had been

  • Chairman of the National Intelligence Council (1995-97)

  • Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (1990-1992)

  • Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (1977-81) and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Monetary Affairs (1965-66) for the U.S. Department of State

  • Provost (1972-74), Frank Altschul Professor of International Economics (1966-77), and assistant professor (1963-65) at Yale University

  • Senior staff economist on the Council of Economic Advisers (1961-63)

Honors and professional activities included

  • Director and Chairman

    • Advisory Committee, Institute for International Economics

  • Director

    • Circuit City Stores

    • Phoenix Companies

    • Center for Naval Analysis

  • Member

    • Trilateral Commission

    • Council on Foreign Relations

    • Aspen Strategy Group

    • Executive Panel, Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy

    • Brookings Panel on Economic Activity

  • Book reviewer for Foreign Affairs

  • Former director

    • Oberlin College

    • Warburg-Pincus Funds

    • Overseas Development Council

    • Rockefeller Brothers Fund

    • German Marshall Fund

    • World Peace Foundation

    • J. Henry Schroder Bank and Trust Co.

    • Panama Canal Company

    • Centre for European Policy Studies

    • Council on Foreign Relations

  • Former member

    • National Research Council Panels

      • on Technology Transfer

      • on Public Policy toward Global Warming

      • on Foreign Trade Statistics

      • on Government Assistance to Civilian Technology

    • Advisory Committee of the Committee for Economic Development

    • Economic Policy Committee of the United Nations Association

  • Former associate editor

    • Journal of International Economics

    • Journal of Conflict Resolution

    • Foreign Policy

  • Former consultant to

    • Council of Economic Advisers

    • National Security Council

    • U.S. State Department

    • U.S. Treasury Dept.

    • United Nations

    • World Bank

Awards included

  • Foreign Affairs Award, U.S. State Department, 1981

  • National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, 1996

Prof. Cooper wrote extensively on international economic policy. Selected publications include

  • The Economics of Interdependence, Columbia University Press, 1968

  • A Re-ordered World (editor and contributor), 1973

  • Economic Policy in an Interdependent World, 1986

  • The International Monetary System, 1987

  • Can Nations Agree? (co-author), 1989

  • Economic Stabilization and Debt in Developing Countries, 1992

  • Boom, Crisis and Adjustment: the Macroeconomic Experience of Developing Countries(co-author), 1993

  • Environment and Resource Policies for the World Economy, 1994

  • Macroeconomic Policy and Adjustment in Korea, 1970-1990 (editor and contributor), 1994

  • Trade Growth in Transition Economies (co-editor and contributor), 1997

  • What the Future Holds (co-editor and contributor), 2002

  • "The Balance of Payments in Review," Journal of Political Economy, 1966

  • "Uncertainty and Diversification in International Trade" (with W. C. Brainard), Stanford Studies in Agricultural Economics, Trade, and Development, 1968

  • "Macroeconomic Policy Adjustment in Interdependent Economies," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1969

  • "Prolegomena to the Choice of an International Monetary System," International Organization, 1975

  • "A New International Economic Order for Mutual Gain," Foreign Policy, 1977

  • "The Gold Standard: Historical Facts and Future Prospects," Brookings Papers in Economic Activity, 1982

  • "A Monetary System for the Future," Foreign Affairs, 1984

  • "Economic Interdependence and the Coordination of Economic Policies," R. Jones and P. Kenen (eds.), Handbook in International Economics, 1985

  • "Is Growth in Developing Countries Beneficial to Industrial Countries?" World Bank Conference on Development Economics, 1995

  • "Toward a Global Warming Treaty," Foreign Affairs, 1998

  • "Should Capital Controls Be Banished?" Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1999

  • "Growth and Inequality: the Role of Foreign Trade and Investment," World Bank Conference on Development Economics, 2001/2002

  • "International Approaches to Global Climate Change," World Bank Research Observer, 2000

  • "Toward a Common Currency?" International Finance, 2000

  • "A Chapter 11 for Countries?" Foreign Affairs, 2002

  • "A Half Century of Development," World Bank Conference on Development, 2005

as well as over three hundred articles.

Homepage at Harvard University

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