Robert Merton

Photo Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nobel Memorial Prize winner and esteemed economist Robert C. Merton has an impressive collection of achievements and contributions to his name. Born in New York City to sociologist Robert K. Merton and Suzanne Carhart, he spent much of his childhood growing up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

His research focuses on finance theory—lifecycle finance, optimal intertemporal portfolio selection, pricing of options, capital asset pricing, risky corporate debt, and loan guarantees. He has worked hard throughout his career in the interests of financial innovation and improving methods of managing risk.

Education

Merton attended the School of Engineering and Applied Science of Columbia University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering Mathematics. From there, he received his Masters of Science at the California Institute of Technology. In 1970, he received his doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Paul Samuelson.

Career

Merton taught at the MIT Sloan School of Management for 18 years (1970–1988). Following this stage of his career, he acted as George Fisher Baker Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University for 10 years. Then, from 1998–2010, he was the John and Natty McArthur University Professor before becoming Professor Emeritus at Harvard.

Currently, Robert Merton is the School of Management Distinguished Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management—a place he couldn’t stay away from forever. He has also been working on pension management as a Resident Scientist at Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Notable Achievements

1986: Fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1986: President of the American Finance Association
1993: International INA - Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei Prize, National Academy of Lincei, Rome
1993: Financial Engineer of the Year Award from the International Association of Financial Engineers
1994: Senior Fellow at the International Association of Financial Engineers
1997: Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance
1997: Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
1998: Michael I. Pupin Medal for Service to the Nation from Columbia University.
1999: Lifetime Achievement Award in Mathematical Finance
2000: FMA Fellow at the Financial Management Association
2000: Fellow at the Society of Fellows, American Finance Association
2003: Nicholas Molodovsky Award for Outstanding Contribution to Investment Research from the CFA Institute.
2009: Robert A. Muh Award in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
2009: Tjalling C. Koopmans Asset Award from Tilburg University.
2010: Kolmogorov medal from the University of London.
2010: Hamilton Medal from the Royal Irish Academy.
2011: CME Group Melamed-Arditti Innovation Award.
2013: WFE Award for Excellence from the World Federation of Exchanges.
2014: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Financial Intermediation Research Society.
2017: Finance Diamond Price from the Fundacion de Investigacion IMEF, Mexico.
2022: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA).
Pioneered the Black-Scholes-Merton model
Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
Author of Continuous-Time Finance
Co-author of Cases in Financial Engineering: Applied Studies of Financial Innovation
Co-author of The Global Financial System: A Functional Perspective
Founding co-editor of the Annual Review of Financial Economics

The achievements of Robert Merton have had widespread impact on the world of finance. Without his contributions, it may have taken a very different path.