Bruce M. Owen
Encyclopedia
Bruce M. Owen is an economist
and author
. He currently serves as Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor in Public Policy and Director of the Public Policy
Program in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University
. He has also served as Gordon Cain Senior Fellow at Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy Research since 2003.
Owen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
from Williams College
in 1965, where he was a Merit Scholar, and subsequently earned his Ph.D.
from Stanford in 1970. At Stanford, Owen was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, National Defense Education Act Title IV Fellow, and Brookings Institution
Economic Policy Fellow.
Owen acted as Chief Economist in the White House
Office of Telecommunications Policy
in 1971 before returning to Stanford University in 1973 to serve as Assistant Professor of Economics
. From 1974 to 1975, Owen was a Hoover Institution
National Fellow.
In 1978, Owen moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina
, where he briefly taught at Duke University
as Associate professor of business
and law
. During this time, Owen was an Aspen Institute
for Humanistic Studies Fellow and Chairman of the Task Force
on the Future of the United States Postal Service
.
In 1979, Owen became Chief Economist within the Antitrust
Division of the United States Department of Justice
, where he played a key role in the ultimate deregulation
of AT&T
.
Owen entered the private sector with the 1981 co-founding of Economists Incorporated in Washington, D.C.
, where he served as President and Chairman of the Board until his retirement in 2002. Economists Incorporated experienced tremendous growth during Owen's tenure, providing consulting
and expert witness
services under his watch to corporations, law firms, and government
entities. During this time, Owen also taught an undergraduate seminar
on economic analysis of law
at Stanford's Washington, D.C.
campus
from 1989 to 2002.
In 1992 he headed a World Bank
task force that advised the government of Argentina in drafting a new antitrust law. He has advised government agencies in Mexico
and the United States on telecommunications policy and Peru
on antitrust policy.
Owen has written eight books, including The Internet Challenge to Television (Harvard University Press, 1999), Economics of a Disaster: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (Praeger, 1995 (with others)), Electric Utility Mergers: Principles of Antitrust Analysis (Praeger, 1994. (with M. Frankena)), Video Economics, (Harvard University Press, 1992 (with S. Wildman)), The Political Economy of Deregulation (American Enterprise Institute, 1983 (with R. Noll)), The Regulation Game: Strategic Use of the Administrative Process (Ballinger, 1978 (with R. Braeutigam)), Economics and Freedom of Expression: Media Structure and the First Amendment, (Ballinger, 1975), and Television Economics (D.C. Heath, 1974 (with J. Beebe, and W. G. Manning, Jr). He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Mass Media Power.
Owen is also a member of the American Economic Association
, the Econometric Society
, the American Law and Economics Association
, an Associate
of the American Bar Association
, and a consultant to the World Bank
in connection with the economic evaluation of legal and judicial reform projects.
Owen is married to Josetta Owen and has two adult children, Bradford Kelly (1974), and Peter Brandon (1969). He has two sisters, Patrice Owen of Gorham, Maine
and Marcia Benson of Brewster, Massachusetts
. Owen currently resides near Palo Alto, California
.
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He currently serves as Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor in Public Policy and Director of the Public Policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
Program in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. He has also served as Gordon Cain Senior Fellow at Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy Research since 2003.
Owen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
in 1965, where he was a Merit Scholar, and subsequently earned his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from Stanford in 1970. At Stanford, Owen was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, National Defense Education Act Title IV Fellow, and Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
Economic Policy Fellow.
Owen acted as Chief Economist in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
Office of Telecommunications Policy
Office of Telecommunications Policy
After President Nixon took office in 1969, Clay T. Whitehead, Special Assistant to the President, pushed to establish an executive office dedicated to telecommunications policy. The White House Office of Telecommunications Policy was established in 1970...
in 1971 before returning to Stanford University in 1973 to serve as Assistant Professor of Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. From 1974 to 1975, Owen was a Hoover Institution
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
National Fellow.
In 1978, Owen moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, where he briefly taught at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
as Associate professor of business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. During this time, Owen was an Aspen Institute
Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1950 as the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies. The organization is dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues." The...
for Humanistic Studies Fellow and Chairman of the Task Force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
on the Future of the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
.
In 1979, Owen became Chief Economist within the Antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
Division of the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, where he played a key role in the ultimate deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
of AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
.
Owen entered the private sector with the 1981 co-founding of Economists Incorporated in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where he served as President and Chairman of the Board until his retirement in 2002. Economists Incorporated experienced tremendous growth during Owen's tenure, providing consulting
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
and expert witness
Expert witness
An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
services under his watch to corporations, law firms, and government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
entities. During this time, Owen also taught an undergraduate seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
on economic analysis of law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at Stanford's Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
from 1989 to 2002.
In 1992 he headed a World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
task force that advised the government of Argentina in drafting a new antitrust law. He has advised government agencies in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the United States on telecommunications policy and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
on antitrust policy.
Owen has written eight books, including The Internet Challenge to Television (Harvard University Press, 1999), Economics of a Disaster: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (Praeger, 1995 (with others)), Electric Utility Mergers: Principles of Antitrust Analysis (Praeger, 1994. (with M. Frankena)), Video Economics, (Harvard University Press, 1992 (with S. Wildman)), The Political Economy of Deregulation (American Enterprise Institute, 1983 (with R. Noll)), The Regulation Game: Strategic Use of the Administrative Process (Ballinger, 1978 (with R. Braeutigam)), Economics and Freedom of Expression: Media Structure and the First Amendment, (Ballinger, 1975), and Television Economics (D.C. Heath, 1974 (with J. Beebe, and W. G. Manning, Jr). He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Mass Media Power.
Owen is also a member of the American Economic Association
American Economic Association
The American Economic Association, or AEA, is a learned society in the field of economics, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It publishes one of the most prestigious academic journals in economics: the American Economic Review...
, the Econometric Society
Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation with statistics and mathematics. It was founded on December 29, 1930 at the Stalton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio....
, the American Law and Economics Association
American Law and Economics Association
The American Law and Economics Association , a United States organization founded in 1991, is focused on the advancement of economic understanding of law, and related areas of public policy and regulation. It promotes research in law and economics. The association was co-founded by George Priest,...
, an Associate
Associate
Associate may refer to:* A business valuation concept.* A title used by some companies instead of employee.* A title used to signify an independent person working as if directly employed by the company of which they are an associate...
of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
, and a consultant to the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
in connection with the economic evaluation of legal and judicial reform projects.
Owen is married to Josetta Owen and has two adult children, Bradford Kelly (1974), and Peter Brandon (1969). He has two sisters, Patrice Owen of Gorham, Maine
Gorham, Maine
Gorham is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 16,381 at the 2010 census. In addition to an urban village center known as Gorham Village or simply "the Village," the town also encompasses a number of smaller, unincorporated villages and hamlets with distinct...
and Marcia Benson of Brewster, Massachusetts
Brewster, Massachusetts
Brewster is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population of Brewster was 9,820 at the 2010 census.Brewster is twinned with the town of Budleigh Salterton in the United Kingdom....
. Owen currently resides near Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
.