Gordon Rausser (born July 21, 1943) is an American economist. He is currently the Robert Gordon Sproul Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Dean Emeritus, College of Natural Resources and a professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. On three separate occasions, he served as chairman of the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, served two terms as Dean of the College of Natural Resources, and has served on the Board of Trustees of public universities and one private university. Over the years, he has been appointed to more than 20 board of directors of both private and publicly traded companies, including chairman of a number of such boards.
His federal government service includes Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, Executive Office of the President, Chief Economist at the Agency for International Development and as President of the Institute for Policy Reform. His editorship contributions include serving as editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, associate editor of the Journal of the American Statistical Association, associate editor of the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, editor of Agricultural Management and Economics, co-editor of four volumes of the Handbook of Agricultural Economics, and more than 15 years as the editor of Annual Review of Resource Economics.
He is recipient of 31 professional awards, including Best Journal Articles, Annual Best Published Research awards, and Publications of Enduring Quality from the AAEA, and Outstanding Research and/or Leadership awards from other associations, such as the American Antitrust Institute, the European Association of Agricultural Economists, and the Agency for International Development.
He was most recently honored by AAEA for his naming of the keynote address at their annual meetings from 2020 forward for his exceptional intellectual leadership and his mentoring of leading scholars. He was also honored in 2020 by the permanent naming of the College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley for his visionary leadership and philanthropic contributions.
From October 24, 2019 to October 27, 2019, a four-day Festschrift was held in honor of Rausser. He was also selected as a member of the 100-member Berkeley Fellows. The complete Festschrift can be viewed here as well as Rausser’s biography. In 2020, an article in the Breakthroughs magazine featured Rausser, in which his early life and background can be read here. A song dedicated to Rausser written by economist Julian Alston can be read here.
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Chicago, Departments of Economics and Statistics, 1972-73
Ph.D., University of California, Davis, Highest Honors, Agricultural Economics 1971
M.S., University of California, Davis, Highest Honors, Agricultural Economics 1968
B.S., California State University, Fresno, summa cum laude, Agriculture and Statistics 1965
“Agricultural Policy: A Global View” (with K. Anderson and J. Swinnen). In Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems, edited by Neal van Alfen. Oxford, UK: Elsevier. Forthcoming.
“Antitrust Class Proceedings – Then and Now” (with M. Hausfeld, G. Macartney, M. Lehmann and S. Gosselin). Review of Law and Economics. Forthcoming.
“Can Investment in Microfinance Funds Improve Risk-Return Characteristics of a Portfolio?” (with K. Janda and B. Svarovska). In Technical and Economic Development of Economy. Forthcoming.
“Determinants of Profitability of Polish Rural Micro-Enterprises at the Time of EU Acession” (with K. Janda and W. Strielkowski). In Eastern European Countryside. Forthcoming.
“Government Agricultural Policy, United States” (with D. Zilberman). In Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems, edited by N. van Alfen. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
“International Labour Migration and Structural Channels: A Case Study of Ukrainian Working Migrants in the Czech Republic” (with W. Strielkowski). Journal of Economics, 10/2013, pp.1034-1052.
“Preface” (with M. Hanemann and D. Zilberman). Annual Review of Resource Economics 5.2013 “Monopsony and Predatory Bidding in the Lumber Industry: The Weyerhaeuser Cases” (with J. Foote). In The Antitrust Revolution, edited by L. White and J. L. Kwoka (6th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
2013. “Political Economy of Public Policies: Insights from Distortions to Agricultural and Food Markets” (with J. Swinnen and K. Anderson). Journal of Economic Literature 51 (2): 423–77.
2013. “Distortions to Agricultural and Food Markets.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Update 16 (3). Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, University of California. http://giannini.ucop.edu/are-update/
2011. “Agri-environmental Programmes and Trade Negotiations in the United States and the European Union” (with K. Baylis, S. Peplow, and L. Simon). Eurochoices 10(2): 55–60.
2011. “Commodity Booms and Busts” (with C. Carter and A. Smith). Annual Review of Resource Economics 3: 87–118.
2011. “Comparing American and European Regulation of Over-the-Counter Derivative Securities” (with K. Janda). European Finance and Accounting Journal 6(4): 1–13.
2011. “Complementarities and Spillovers in Mergers: An Empirical Investigation Using Patent Data” (with A. Marco). Economics of Innovation and New Technology 20(3): 207–31. Gordon C. Rausser, Ph.D. 9/71 May 2014
2011. “Local Negotiation with Heterogeneous Groundwater Users” (with S. S. Sayre and L.K. Simon). Strategic Behavior and the Environment 1(2): 61–82.
2011. “Property Rights and Water Transfers: Bargaining Among Multiple Stakeholders” (with S. S. Sayre and L. K. Simon). Strategic Behavior and the Environment 1: 1-29.
2010. “Centralized Clearing for Over-the-Counter Derivatives” (with W. Balson and R. Stevens). Journal of Financial Economic Policy 2(4): 346–359.
2010. “Governance Structures, Political Economy, and Public Policy” (with J. Swinnen). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 93(2): 310–16.
2010. “Interactions between Incentive Instruments: Contracts and Quality in Processing Tomatoes” (with R. E. Goodhue and S. Mohaptra). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 92(5): 1283–93.
2010. “Managing R&D Risk in Renewable Energy: Biofuels vs. Alternate Technologies” (with R. Stevens and K. Torani). AgBioForum 13 (4): 375–381.
2010. “Optimal Taxation with Joint Production of Agriculture and Rural Amenities” (with G. Casamatta and L. K. Simon). Resource and Energy Economics 33(3): 544–53.
2014. “US Policy Contributions to Agricultural Commodity Price Fluctuations, 2006–2012” (with H. de Gorter). Forthcoming in Political Economy of Food Price Policy, edited by P. Pinstrup-Andersen. New York: Oxford University Press. Now available as UNU-WIDER Working Paper 2013/33 at http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/working-papers/2013/en_GB/wp2013-033/
2011. Political Power and Economic Policy: Theory, Analysis, and Empirical Applications (with J. Swinnen and P. Zusman). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
