Avi J. Cohen is Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto and University Professor Emeritus of Economics at York University. He has a PhD in Economics from Stanford University; a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan; is a Life Fellow of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge; is past President of the History of Economics Society; and a former Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University. His research interests are in the history of economics, economic education, and economic history. He has published in the American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Economic Education, History of Political Economy, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic History, and Explorations in Economic History, among other journals and books.

He is a pioneer of the literacy-targeted approach to teaching principles of economics. Previously, in collaboration with writing instructors, he pioneered the introduction of the Writing Across the Curriculum movement in economics. For more information about the LT approach, see the symposium “What Should Go Into the Only Economics Course that Students Will Ever Take” in the 2024 Journal of Economic Education.

Avi was an early adopter of technologies. After a 2003 visit to the University of Central Florida (award-winning pioneers in online and blended learning) he created a UCF-like 10-week faculty development course call do TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning), training instructors interested in transforming traditional courses into blended and online formats.

Before authoring Micro/Macro Economics for Life, he was a long-time creator of educational materials, starting in 1992 and continuing through eight editions of Study Guides for the Parkin and Bade introductory economics textbooks.

Professor Cohen is a member of the American Economic Association Committee on Economic Education (AEACEE), and the winner of numerous teaching awards, including the 3M Teaching Fellowship, Canada’s most prestigious national award for educational leadership.