Anthony ("Tony") Ying Chang Koo was born on November 22, 1918, to Vee Sing Koo and Soo Mayling Koo in Shanghai, China. His wife, Delia Zung Fung Wei Koo, and Anthony had three children Victoria, Margery, and Emily. He attended St. John's University in Shanghai to pursue study in economics where he met his future wife. They were married in 1943 in Massachusetts. He graduated with his B.A. in 1940 with honors. He received his M.S. from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1941. He proceeded to Harvard University and earned an A.M. in 1943 and a PhD in International Economics and Economic Theory in 1946. Delia Koo received her Ph.D. in philology at Radcliffe.

Koo was a member of the Secretariat and Chinese Delegation to the San Francisco Conference, helping to write the Charter of the United Nations in 1945. He became a technical assistant to the Chinese Supply Commission, in charge of settling lend lease accounts in 1945 and 1946. He was a technical counsellor to the Chinese Delegation to the Far Eastern Commission from 1946-1950, serving as a representative on the Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs and a deputy representative on the Committee on Japanese Reparations. In 1950 he became an advisor to the Chinese Delegation to the Food and Agriculture Conference. In the summer of 1969-1970, Koo also served as a consultant to the Taiwan governments' Taxation Reform Commission with special reference to the island's tariff structure.

Anthony Koo joined the faculty at Michigan State University in 1950 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor and then professor of economics. He left MSU to be a professor of Economics at University of Michigan for three years from 1964 to 1967. Then Koo returned to MSU as professor of economics from 1967 until his retirement in 1988. Koo's research focused on demand theory, international economics, and land reform.

In 1956, Koo received the Distinguished Teacher Award from the College of Business and Public Service for classroom excellence. For the academic year 1961-62, Koo was awarded a Ford Foundation Faculty Research Fellowship for research on wage differences in relation to international competition in textiles. In 1976, he received a Distinguished Faculty Award for his outstanding record as both teacher and scholar.

Koo died on June 6, 2011 preceded by his wife, who died In October 2008.