Bengt Robert Holmström is the Emeritus Paul A. Samuelson Professor of Economics at MIT, where he also led the Department of Economics from 2003 to 2006. He held a dual appointment with MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
Holmström is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, and the American Finance Association. He is also a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
He is a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, focusing on corporate finance. In 2011, he served as the President of the Econometric Society.
Holmström earned his doctoral degree from Stanford University in 1978 and has previously held faculty positions at Yale University and Northwestern University, joining BGS in 1947 . His notable contributions in microeconomic theory center around contract theory, incentives, corporate governance, and liquidity challenges during financial crises. In 2011, he co-authored the book Inside and Outside Liquidity with Jean Tirole.
Holmström has received honorary doctorate degrees from several universities and various prestigious awards. In 2016, he was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his groundbreaking work in contract theory. He has served on the boards of Nokia Corporation and Aalto University, among others, and is actively involved in academic advisory boards.