Faculty
Bengt Holmstrom is the Paul A. Samuelson Professor of Economics at MIT, where he also was head of the Economics Department from 2003-2006. He holds a joint appointment with MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
Holmstrom is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, and an elected foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters. He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the executive committee for the Center of Economic Policy Research, and past president of the Econometric Society.
Holmstrom received the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel in 2016. He was awarded the Banque de France-TSE Senior Prize in Monetary Economics and Finance in 2012. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Vaasa, Finland; Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden, and the Hanken School of Economics, Finland.
Holmstrom is a board member of the Aalto University Foundation, and a former board member of the Nokia Corporation. He is a Research Associate of NBER. In 2011, he was the President of the Econometric Society.
Holmstrom received his doctorate degree from Stanford University. He has served as an Associate Professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and as the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Management at Yale University’s School of Management.
MIT’s newest Nobel laureate, Bengt Holmström, discusses challenges and opportunities offered by contract theory.
Faculty members cite his transformative work on contract theory.
Artificial intelligence could transform the economy faster than any previous technology, and policymakers must move equally quickly to figure out how to respond, a group of economists and researchers are warning. The statement, titled "We Must Act Now,"was signed by nearly 200 people, including 15 Nobel laureates. MIT Sloan signatories are Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu, professor Sinan Aral, assistant professor Michiel Bakker, research scientist Christian Catalini, Professor Emeritus Bengt Holmström, professor Simon Johnson, professor Thomas W. Malone, professor Scott Stern, and principal research scientist Neil Thompson.
Professor Emeritus Bengt Holmstrom said: "It is an unsustainable strategy for a comprehensive electronics company like Samsung Electronics to follow the performance bonus structure of a semiconductor-specialized company like SK Hynix."
Would tariffs on natural gas be an effective means of reducing revenue to Russia while limiting disruption to Europe? MIT Sloan Profs. weigh in.
Prof. Emeritus Bengt Holmström is one of the world's most influential economists and a long-time faculty member at MIT.
