The Fama of modern finance

When Eugene Fama enrolled at Chicago Booth School of Business in 1960, “finance was a joke”, he says in a candid and fascinating insight into his more than 50 years as a student, academic and teacher at the university.

The essay, published by Chicago Booth’s Capital Ideas, details Fama’s own history but also a short history of finance including how the efficient-market hypothesis was born.

Fama, who is often called the “father of modern finance”, calls the Black-Scholes paper on option pricing the most important paper in economics of the twentieth century.

“No other paper has to be learned by every single economist getting a PhD and has also created an industry – the derivatives industry.”

Fama, who also got into Harvard, chose to go to Chicago because he was advised that “it was more academically oriented than Harvard”.

He is the Robert R McCormick Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, and received a MBA and PhD from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Sponsored Content

“I love my work,” he says in the essay. “I have no intention of stopping as long as I’m breathing – and I may even do it after that.”

To read the full essay, click here.

Leave a Comment

Sort content by

Slavery victims look to financial world

Speaking at the PRI in Person in Paris in a panel to highlight the role of finance in addressing social issues, Ghanaian James Kofi Annan, sold into slavery at the age of six, told his story.

Pizza and diversity: How funds move dial

Empowering long-term influential asset owners to invest responsibly is the key to hastening take-up in responsible investment. Delegates heard how some leading asset owners are doing this through their diversity and ESG practices.

Responsible FI promotes good markets

Responsible investment has assumed an increasingly central role in fixed income portfolios and in the experience of Jørgen Krog Sæbø CIO, fixed income, and Lars Tronsgaard deputy managing director at Folketrygdfondet, which manages the Government Pension Fund Norway, one part of Norway’s Government Pension Fund, adopting a responsible investment focus builds more integrated understanding and deeper insight into companies.

At a glance: FIS Cambridge day three

An overwhelming number of delegates at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium said the funds management industry was not doing well in innovationMartin Gilbert, who started Aberdeen Standard Investments in 1983 and is now chair, said industry participants needed to innovate and disrupt themselves.

Climate change risk to spur stress test

Mercer has quantified a ‘low-carbon transition’ premium in the sequel to its seminal climate change report, showing that a 2⁰C scenario equates to 11 basis points per annum to 2030 in a typical growth portfolio.

ATP’s approach to ESG

The giant Danish fund, ATP, takes a comprehensive approach to ESG including voting and engagement, as well as a large investment in green bonds. Ole Buhl is vice president and head of ESG at ATP explains.

Previous