Mark A. Cohen

Biography

Mark Cohen is an expert on government enforcement of policy mandates, having published more than 100 articles and books on such topics as the effect of community right-to-know laws on firm behavior; why companies reduce toxic chemical emissions; benefit-cost analysis of oil spill regulation and enforcement; whether it "pays" to be green; and judicial sentencing of individuals and firms convicted of corporate crimes. He has served on various governmental advisory panels, including Tennessee’s Environmental Justice Steering Committee and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board Panel on Illegal Competitive Advantage and Economic Benefits. He serves on several academic editorial boards, including the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis and Managerial and Decision Economics, and is a member of ExxonMobil’s External Sustainability Advisory Panel. Professor Cohen holds a primary appointment at the Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. Before joining the academy, he served as a staff economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Sentencing Commission. At Vanderbilt, he teaches Corporate Strategies for Environmental and Social Responsibility; Financial Analysis of Environmental, Social & Governance Data; The Future of Energy Markets in a Low Carbon Economy; and the Law and Business of Climate Change. He co-founded and directed the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies, and from 2003 to 2005, he was a senior associate dean of the Owen Graduate School. From 2008 to 2011, he served as vice president for research at Resources of the Future in Washington, D.C., where he currently serves as a University Fellow.