Former University of Miami law professor Fred S. McChesney, an author known for applying economics to the study of law, died after battling an extended illness. He was 68.

McChesney, who died Oct. 12 in Washington, held the de la Cruz-Mentschikoff Endowed Chair in Law and Economics at UM and wrote “Money for Nothing: Politicians, Rent Extraction, and Political Extortion” in 1997 on public choice economics.