Robert Fogel was born in 1922 in New-York. He received his Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University in 1963. He taught, most of his years, in the University of Chicago.

In 1993, Robert Fogel was awarded the Nobel prize in Economics, jointly with Douglas North “for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional changes”.

His most controversial research addressed the economic aspect of slavery. His conclusion, after a very precise and comprehensive analysis, was that slavery was ended not because it became inefficient but because it was morally repugnant to the American public opinion.