Last year, I lost my teacher, friend and most valued research colleague, and the world lost a brilliant economist.
Richard Cooper was one of my supervisors when I was pursuing my Ph.D. at Yale. As a doctoral candidate, I benefited from a veritable “dream team” of economists, each of whom enriched my life and work tremendously. James Tobin pushed me toward deep and creative insights with empirical relevance. Edmund Phelps sharpened my analytical skills. And Cooper made sure that I applied my ideas to policymaking, so that they would have a real-world impact. For that, I will be forever grateful.
Cooper led by example: his work examined the interdependence of countries’ economic policies. He developed his ideas mainly within the Keynesian framework, in which fiscal policy is the primary policy tool, and showed how carefully planned international coordination of fiscal policies would improve outcomes for everyone.