Robert C. Merton

This article is about the economist. For the sociologist, see Robert K. Merton.

Robert C. Merton
Born	Robert C. Merton July 31, 1944 (1944-07-31) New York City, New York, USA
Nationality	United States
Fields	Finance, economics
Institutions	Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Columbia University California Institute of Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor	Paul Samuelson
Known for	Black–Scholes model ICAPM Merton's portfolio problem Merton Model Jarrow-Turnbull model Long-Term Capital Management
Notable awards	Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1997)

Robert C. Merton (born 31 July 1944) is an American economist, Nobel laureate in Economics, and professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Biography

Merton was born in New York City to sociologist Robert K. Merton and Suzanne Carhart. He grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Mathematics from the School of Engineering and Applied Science of Columbia University, a Masters of Science from the California Institute of Technology, and his doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970 under the guidance of Paul Anthony Samuelson. He then joined the faculty of the MIT Sloan School of Management where he taught until 1988. Subsequently, Merton moved to Harvard University, where he was George Fisher Baker Professor of Business Administration from 1988 to 1998 and has held the John and Natty McArthur University Professorship since 1998. On June 11, 2010 it was announced that Merton would retire from Harvard and rejoin the MIT Sloan School of Management. Merton also sits on the QFINANCE Strategic Advisory Board.

Career

Robert C. Merton is the School of Management Distinguished Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. Merton was the George Fisher Baker Professor of Business Administration (1988–98) and John and Natty McArthur University Professor (1998–2010) at the Harvard Business School. He previously served on the finance faculty of the Sloan School from 1970 until 1988. Merton received the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1997 for a new method to determine the value of derivatives. He is past President of the American Finance Association, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Merton’s research focuses on finance theory including lifecycle finance, optimal intertemporal portfolio selection, capital asset pricing, pricing of options, risky corporate debt, loan guarantees, and other complex derivative securities. He has also written on the operation and regulation of financial institutions. Merton’s current academic interests include financial innovation and dynamics of institutional change, controlling the propagation of macro financial risk, and improving methods of measuring and managing sovereign risk. He is the author of, Continuous-Time Finance, and a co-author of Cases in Financial Engineering: Applied Studies of Financial Innovation; The Global Financial System: A Functional Perspective; Finance; and Financial Economics.

Merton has also been recognized for translating finance science into practice. He received the inaugural Financial Engineer of the Year Award from the International Association of Financial Engineers in 1993, which also elected him a Senior Fellow. Derivatives Strategy magazine named him to its Derivatives Hall of Fame as did Risk magazine to its Risk Hall of Fame. He also received Risk’s Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to the field of risk management. A Distinguished Fellow of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance ('Q Group') and a Fellow of the Financial Management Association, Merton received the Nicholas Molodovsky Award from the CFA Institute. He co-founded Long-Term Capital Management, which lost $4.6 billion and was closed in early 2000. Merton is currently Resident Scientist at Dimensional Fund Advisors, where he is developing a next-generation integrated pension-management solution system that addresses deficiencies associated with traditional defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans.

Merton received a B.S. in Engineering Mathematics from Columbia University, a M.S. in Applied Mathematics from California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Personal life

Merton was married to June Rose from 1966 to 1996. They have three children; two sons and one daughter.

Honours and awards

• In 1993, Merton became a member of the U.S. United States National Academy of Sciences.
• In 1997, Merton was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Myron Scholes for their work on stock options.
• In 1999, Merton was awarded a lifetime achievement award in mathematical finance.
• In 2005 the Baker Library at Harvard University opened The Merton Exhibit in his honor.
• In 2010, Merton received the Kolmogorov medal.

See also

• List of economists
• List of quantitative analysts

Publications

• Merton: Theory of rational option pricing (1971)[1]

External links

• Page at the Harvard Business School
• PBS, Nova – Trillion Dollar Bet (2000)
• The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1997
• Press Release: The Sveriges Riksbank (Bank of Sweden) Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 1997
• Doctoral Dissertation
• Trinsum Group profile
• IDEAS/RePEc