Philip J. Cook
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research; ITT/Terry Sanford Professor of Public Policy; Professor of Economics and Sociology and Duke Population Research Institute and Faculty Affiliate, Center for Child and Family Policy- Contact Info
- Location: 215 Sanford Building
- Office Phone: (919) 613-7360
- Office Fax: (919) 681-8288
- Email Address:
- Mailing Address: 215 Sanford Building Durham, NC 27708
- PUBPOL 901.01, POL. ECON. OF PUBPOL
Synopsis
- Sanford 224, M 03:05 PM-05:35 PM
- Education:
- PhD (Economics), University of California, Berkeley, 1973
- BA (with high distinction), University of Michigan, 1968
Current Projects: prisoner reentry, crime prevention, alcohol control policy, policies to prevent gun violence
Research Summary:
Research: Crime and criminal justice; Public health policy and social policy; regulation of alchohol, guns, gambling; violence prevention
- Recent Publications
(More Publications)
- P.J. Cook, Q&A on Firearms Availability, Carrying, and Misuse, Government, Law and Policy Journal, vol. 14 no. 1 (Summer, 2012), pp. 77-81, New York State Bar Association .
- P.J. Cook, Alcohol Retail Privatization: A Commentary, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 42 no. 4 (April, 2012), pp. 430-432 .
- P.J. Cook, M O'Brien, A.A. Braga, J. Ludwig, Lessons from a partially controlled field trial, Journal of Experimental Criminology (2012) .
- P.J. Cook, The Impact of Drug Market Pulling Levers Policing on Neighborhood Violence An Evaluation of the High Point Drug Market Intervention, Criminology & Public Policy, vol. 11 no. 2 (2012), pp. 161-164 .
- P.J. Cook, Commentary: Evidence from a high-income country, Addiction (2012) .
Cook joined the Duke faculty in 1973 after earning his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served as consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice (Criminal Division) and to the U.S. Department of Treasury (Enforcement Division). He has served in a variety of capacities with the National Academy of Sciences, including membership on expert panels dealing with alcohol-abuse prevention, violence, school shootings and underage drinking. He also served on the National Research Council’s Committee on Law and Justice, and is currently a member of the Division Committee for the Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
One strand of Cook’s research concerns the prevention of alcohol-related problems through restrictions on alcohol availability. An early article was the first to demonstrate persuasively that alcohol taxes have a direct effect on the death rate of heavy drinkers, and subsequent research demonstrated the moderate efficacy of minimum-purchase-age laws in preventing fatal crashes. Together with Michael J. Moore, he focused on the effects of beer taxes on youthful drinking and the consequences thereof, finding that more restrictive policies result in lower rates of abuse, higher college graduation rates and lower crime rates. His new book on the subject is Paying the Tab: The Costs and Benefits of Alcohol Control, (Princeton University Press, 2007).
A second strand has concerned the costs and consequences of the widespread availability of guns, and what might be done about it. His book (with Jens Ludwig), Gun Violence: The Real Costs (Oxford University Press, 2000), develops and applies a framework for assessing costs that is grounded in economic theory and is quite at odds with the traditional “Cost of Injury” framework. Ludwig and Cook are also the editors of Evaluating Gun Policy (Brookings Institution Press, 2003).
Cook has also co-authored two other books: with Charles Clotfelter on state lotteries (Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America, Harvard University Press, 1989), and with Robert H. Frank on the causes and consequences of the growing inequality of earnings (The Winner-Take-All Society, The Free Press, 1995). The Winner-Take-All Society was named a “Notable Book of the Year, 1995” by the New York Times Book Review.