Robert C. Merton

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

School of Management Distinguished Professor of Finance

77 Massachusetts Avenue

E62-634

Cambridge, MA 02139-4307

United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, MA 02138

United States

Harvard Business School - Finance Unit

John and Natty McArthur University Professor emeritus

Boston, MA 02163

United States

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

    • Email
    • Tel: 617 715 4866

  • Harvard Business School - Finance Unit

    • Email
    • Tel: 617-495-6678
SCHOLARLY PAPERS

38

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Scholarly Papers (38)

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1.

Do a Firm's Equity Returns Reflect the Risk of its Pension Plan?

Downloads 2,067 ( 7,086)
Citation 28

Do a Firm's Equity Returns Reflect the Risk of its Pension Plan?

HBS Finance Working Paper No. 05-011
Number of pages: 43 Posted: 19 Jul 2004
Zvi Bodie, Robert C. Merton and Li Jin
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business School - Finance Unit
Downloads 1,958 (7,652)

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Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Market Efficiency, Cost of Capital, Capital Budgeting

Do a Firm's Equity Returns Reflect the Risk of its Pension Plan?

NBER Working Paper No. w10650
Number of pages: 38 Posted: 26 Aug 2004 Last Revised: 09 Aug 2010
Zvi Bodie, Li Jin, Robert C. Merton and Zvi Bobie
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics, Harvard Business School - Finance Unit, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and affiliation not provided to SSRN
Downloads 109 (258,896)
Citation 3

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2.

The Design of Financial Systems: Towards a Synthesis of Function and Structure

Downloads 1,953 ( 7,846)
Citation 64

The Design of Financial Systems: Towards a Synthesis of Function and Structure

Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 02-074, HBS Finance Working Paper No. 02-074
Number of pages: 44 Posted: 09 Jun 2002
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 1,776 (8,988)
Citation 4

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financial system; financial structure

The Design of Financial Systems: Towards a Synthesis of Function and Structure

NBER Working Paper No. w10620
Number of pages: 46 Posted: 28 Jul 2004 Last Revised: 10 Jul 2010
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 177 (175,078)
Citation 2

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3.

Transparency, Risk Management and International Financial Fragility

Downloads 1,814 ( 8,886)
Citation 8

Transparency, Risk Management and International Financial Fragility

Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 03-118; Harvard NOM Working Paper No. 03-41, HBS Finance Working Paper No. 03-118
Number of pages: 66 Posted: 24 Jul 2003
Mario Draghi, Francesco Giavazzi and Robert C. Merton
Goldman Sachs International, University of Bocconi - Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research (IGIER) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 1,739 (9,306)

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Risk Transparency, Macro-finance, Financial Crisis, Marco-risk Management, Sovereign Risk

Transparency, Risk Management and International Financial Fragility

NBER Working Paper No. w9806
Number of pages: 66 Posted: 30 Jun 2003
Mario Draghi, Francesco Giavazzi and Robert C. Merton
Goldman Sachs International, University of Bocconi - Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research (IGIER) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 75 (330,040)

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4.

Systemic Risk and the Refinancing Ratchet Effect

Downloads 1,377 ( 13,818)
Citation 9

Systemic Risk and the Refinancing Ratchet Effect

MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 4750-09, Harvard Business School Finance Working Paper No. 1472892
Number of pages: 62 Posted: 15 Sep 2009 Last Revised: 08 Jan 2018
Amir Khandani, Andrew W. Lo and Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 1,314 (14,548)
Citation 9

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Systemic Risk, Financial Crisis, Household Finance, Real Estate, Subprime

Systemic Risk and the Refinancing Ratchet Effect

NBER Working Paper No. w15362
Number of pages: 68 Posted: 21 Sep 2009 Last Revised: 24 Jun 2010
Amir Khandani, Andrew W. Lo and Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 63 (363,607)

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5.

International Pension Swaps

Downloads 1,098 ( 19,509)

International Pension Swaps

Boston University School of Management Working Paper No. 02-01
Number of pages: 11 Posted: 01 Nov 2001
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 1,098 (19,161)
Citation 9

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Pensions, diversification, risk-sharing, swaps

International Pension Swaps

Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, January 2002
Posted: 18 Feb 2002
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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Swap, pension fund, international diversification

6.

The Value of Implicit Guarantees

Downloads 833 ( 29,138)
Citation 10

The Value of Implicit Guarantees

Number of pages: 46 Posted: 11 Mar 2013
Zoe Tsesmelidakis and Robert C. Merton
University of Oxford - Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 639 (41,186)
Citation 6

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Financial crisis, Systemic risk, Too big to fail, Government guarantees

The Value of Implicit Guarantees

26th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference 2013
Number of pages: 46 Posted: 19 Aug 2013
Zoe Tsesmelidakis and Robert C. Merton
University of Oxford - Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 119 (242,927)
Citation 6

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financial crisis, systemic risk, too big to fail, government guarantees

The Value of Implicit Guarantees

Number of pages: 46 Posted: 28 Feb 2013
Zoe Tsesmelidakis and Robert C. Merton
University of Oxford - Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 75 (330,040)
Citation 6

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Financial crisis, Systemic risk, Too big to fail, Government guarantees

7.

A New Framework for Analyzing and Managing Macrofinancial Risks of an Economy

Downloads 781 ( 31,815)
Citation 38

A New Framework for Analyzing and Managing Macrofinancial Risks of an Economy

HBS Finance Working Paper No. 936661
Number of pages: 45 Posted: 11 Oct 2006
Zvi Bodie, Dale F. Gray and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 684 (37,525)

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macrofinancial risks, risk propagation, sovereign risk

A New Framework for Analyzing and Managing Macrofinancial Risks of an Economy

NBER Working Paper No. w12637
Number of pages: 45 Posted: 20 Nov 2006 Last Revised: 14 Jul 2010
Zvi Bodie, Dale F. Gray and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 97 (280,867)
Citation 1

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8.

On the Management of Financial Guarantees

Financial Management, Financial Management Association, Vol. 21, No. 4, Winter 1992
Number of pages: 44 Posted: 14 Sep 2009
Robert C. Merton and Zvi Bodie
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics
Downloads 447 (65,778)
Citation 1

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9.

Time for Retirement ‘SeLFIES’?

Investments and Pensions Europe, Forthcoming
Number of pages: 2 Posted: 05 Apr 2017 Last Revised: 13 Apr 2017
Robert C. Merton and Arun Muralidhar
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions
Downloads 408 (73,595)

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Retirement SeLFIES, Pension REform, Financial Innovation, Forward Starting Bonds, DB Pensions, DC Pensions, Standard of Living Indexation

10.

Customers and Investors: A Framework for Understanding Financial Institutions

Downloads 381 ( 79,511)
Citation 1

Customers and Investors: A Framework for Understanding Financial Institutions

MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 5137-15
Number of pages: 56 Posted: 05 Jun 2015 Last Revised: 02 May 2016
Robert C. Merton and Richard T. Thakor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management
Downloads 361 (84,057)

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Customers, investors, credit risk, financial intermediaries, real-world financial contracts, information-insensitivity, financial crises

Customers and Investors: A Framework for Understanding Financial Institutions

NBER Working Paper No. w21258
Number of pages: 57 Posted: 15 Jun 2015
Robert C. Merton and Richard T. Thakor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management
Downloads 20 (556,495)
Citation 1

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11.

Macroeconomics and Finance: the Role of the Stock Market

NBER Working Paper No. w1291
Number of pages: 70 Posted: 09 Jun 2004 Last Revised: 14 Jul 2010
Stanley Fischer and Robert C. Merton
Bank of Israel and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 367 (83,117)
Citation 3

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12.

Trust in Lending

Downloads 306 (101,871)
Citation 3

Trust in Lending

MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 5524-18, 9th Miami Behavioral Finance Conference 2018
Number of pages: 59 Posted: 15 Jul 2018 Last Revised: 15 Mar 2019
Richard T. Thakor and Robert C. Merton
University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 282 (110,642)
Citation 2

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Trust, Banks, Non-banks, Fintech, Lending, Financial Intermediation, Credit Market, Financial Crisis

Trust in Lending

NBER Working Paper No. w24778
Number of pages: 59 Posted: 13 Jul 2018
Richard T. Thakor and Robert C. Merton
University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 24 (530,391)
Citation 1
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13.

On Estimating the Expected Return on the Market: An Exploratory Investigation

NBER Working Paper No. w0444
Number of pages: 71 Posted: 19 Jun 2004 Last Revised: 20 Sep 2010
Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 303 (102,958)
Citation 42

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14.

Defined Benefit Versus Defined Contribution Pension Plans: What are the Real Tradeoffs?

NBER Working Paper No. w1719
Number of pages: 37 Posted: 27 Apr 2000 Last Revised: 14 Sep 2010
Zvi Bodie, Alan J. Marcus and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics, Boston College - Department of Finance and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 279 (112,591)
Citation 2

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15.

Financial Innovation and the Management and Regulation of Financial Institutions

Downloads 237 (133,227)

Financial Innovation and the Management and Regulation of Financial Institutions

NBER Working Paper No. w5096
Number of pages: 46 Posted: 29 Aug 2000 Last Revised: 05 Oct 2014
Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 237 (132,697)

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Financial Innovation and the Management and Regulation of Financial Institutions

Posted: 10 Oct 1998
Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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16.

New Framework for Measuring and Managing Macrofinancial Risk and Financial Stability

NBER Working Paper No. w13607
Number of pages: 32 Posted: 27 Nov 2007 Last Revised: 07 Sep 2010
Dale F. Gray, Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
International Monetary Fund (IMF), Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 201 (155,926)
Citation 3

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17.

Labor Supply Flexibility and Portfolio Choice in a Life-Cycle Model

NBER Working Paper No. w3954
Number of pages: 41 Posted: 08 Jun 2004
Zvi Bodie, Robert C. Merton and William F. Samuelson
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics
Downloads 196 (159,692)
Citation 19

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18.

The Impact of Derivative Markets on Asset Management and the Economy

SUERF Studies No. 2008/5
Number of pages: 175 Posted: 10 Feb 2011
Bernhard Sammer, Peter R. Haiss, Martin Gartner, Otto Loistl, Stephan Zellner, Robert C. Merton, Krzysztof Rybinski and Urszula Sowa
Vienna University of Economics and Business - European Institute, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, affiliation not provided to SSRN, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management, Warsaw University and National Bank of Poland
Downloads 193 (161,938)

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derivatives, financial integration, financial crisis, finance-growth-nexus

19.

Optimal Investment Strategies for University Endowment Funds

NBER Working Paper No. w3820
Number of pages: 46 Posted: 19 Jun 2004 Last Revised: 10 Jun 2008
Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 179 (173,378)
Citation 1

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20.

Customers and Investors: A Framework for Understanding the Evolution of Financial Institutions

Journal of Financial Intermediation, Forthcoming, MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 5358-18
Number of pages: 54 Posted: 18 Mar 2018 Last Revised: 17 May 2018
Robert C. Merton and Richard T. Thakor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management
Downloads 163 (187,950)
Citation 3

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Customers, Investors, Credit Risk, Financial Intermediaries, Real-World Financial Contracts, Information-Insensitivity

21.

On an Efficient Design of Reverse Mortgages: A Possible Solution for Aging Asian Populations

Number of pages: 37 Posted: 24 Nov 2017
Robert C. Merton and Rose Neng Lai
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and University of Macau
Downloads 131 (224,970)
Citation 3

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Retirement, Reverse Mortgage, Securitization, Tranching, Core Capital

22.

SeLFIES for Portugal - An Innovative Pan European Retirement Solution

Forthcoming in "Pension Plans in the EU Internal Market," edited by Prof. Nazare Cabral; Published by Springer, 2019
Number of pages: 26 Posted: 06 Nov 2019
Robert C. Merton, Arun Muralidhar and Rui Seybert P Ferreira
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management, AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions and affiliation not provided to SSRN
Downloads 64 (355,927)

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SeLFIES, Portugal, Retirement Security, Complementary DC System, Financial Innovation, Market Completion, Financial Literacy

23.

Pension Plan Integration as Insurance Against Social Security Risk

NBER Working Paper No. w1370
Number of pages: 42 Posted: 23 Jun 2004 Last Revised: 30 Sep 2008
Robert C. Merton, Zvi Bodie and Alan J. Marcus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management, Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Boston College - Department of Finance
Downloads 56 (380,323)

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24.

On the Role of Social Security as a Means for Efficient Risk-Bearing in an Economy Where Human Capital is Not Tradeable

NBER Working Paper No. w0743
Number of pages: 61 Posted: 18 Aug 2004 Last Revised: 15 Jul 2010
Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 40 (437,528)
Citation 17

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25.

On Consumption-Indexed Public Pension Plans

NBER Working Paper No. w0910
Number of pages: 34 Posted: 19 Jun 2004 Last Revised: 29 Jun 2010
Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 39 (441,712)

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26.

Allocating Shareholder Capital to Pension Plans

Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 15-24, Winter 2006
Number of pages: 12 Posted: 16 Nov 2006
Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 36 (454,361)
Citation 4
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27.

Pension Benefit Guarantees in the United States: A Functional Analysis

Ray Schmitt, The Future of Pensions in the United States, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1993.
Number of pages: 21 Posted: 08 Feb 2019
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 26 (503,016)

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defined benefit, defined contribution, functional perspective, guarantees

28.

The Derivatives Sourcebook

Foundations and Trends in Finance, Vol. 1, No. 5-6, 2005
Number of pages: 210 Posted: 15 Jun 2010
Terence Lim, Andrew W. Lo, Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. - Asset Management Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Stanford Graduate School of Business
Downloads 18 (550,171)
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29.

MIT Roundtable on Corporate Risk Management

Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 20-38, Fall 2008
Number of pages: 21 Posted: 18 Dec 2008
Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Downloads 4 (641,309)
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30.

Selfies Can Improve the Nation's Retirement Security

Plan Sponsor Magazine, Forthcoming
Posted: 22 Nov 2017
Robert C. Merton and Arun Muralidhar
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions

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Annuities; SeLFIES; US Treasury; General Accounting Office; in-plan retirement income; funding infrastructure; financial innovation; GBI; forward-starting bonds

31.

Fischer Black

Annual Review of Financial Economics, Vol. 5, pp. 9-19, 2013
Posted: 08 Nov 2013
Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Stanford Graduate School of Business

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32.

Preface to the Annual Review of Financial Economics

Annual Review of Financial Economics, Vol. 1, pp. 01-17, 2009
Posted: 03 Jun 2010
Andrew W. Lo and Robert C. Merton
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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33.

Contingent Claims Approach to Measuring and Managing Sovereign Risk

Journal of Investment Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, Fourth Quarter 2007
Posted: 17 Jan 2008
Dale F. Gray, Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
International Monetary Fund (IMF), Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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Contingent claims analysis, sovereignrisk, Merton Model, capital structure arbitrage

34.

Design of Financial Systems: Towards a Syntheses of Function and Structure

Journal of Investment Management, Vol. 3, No. 1, First Quarter 2005
Posted: 01 Apr 2005
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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Financial system, financial structure, risk management

35.

Speeches by Nobel Laureates

Financial Management, Vol. 29, Iss. 3, Autumn 2000
Posted: 31 Oct 2001
Edward J. Kane, Paul A. Samuelson and Robert C. Merton
Boston College - Department of Finance, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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36.

Financial Infrastructure and Public Policy: A Functional Perspective

Posted: 25 Aug 1998
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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37.

The Informational Role of Asset Prices: The Case of Implied Volatility

Working Paper 95-063
Posted: 25 Aug 1998
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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38.

A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing the Financial Environment

WP#95-062
Posted: 25 Aug 1998
Zvi Bodie and Robert C. Merton
Boston University - Department of Finance & Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

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