Fogel's research activities center on the socioeconomic and biomedical predictors at early ages of morbidity, mortality, and labor force participation at mid-adult and late ages; business ethics; forecasting pension and health care costs; and strategic marketing forecasting.

In addition to his numerous publications in academic journals, Fogel is the author of The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World (Cambridge University Press, 2004), The Slavery Debates, 1952-1990: A Retrospective (Louisiana Sate University Press, 2003), The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism (University of Chicago Press, 2000), and Without Consent or Contract: The Rise of Fall of American Slavery (4 vols. 1989-1992).

Fogel was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 1993 for applying economics and statistics to the study of history.