Eugene F. Fama, MBA ’64, PhD ’64

Fama-Miller Center for Research in Finance Eugene F. Fama, MBA '64, PhD '64

Fama, widely recognized as the "father of modern empirical finance," is strongly identified with research on markets, particularly with regard to the efficient market hypothesis. He received the 2013 Nobel Prize in economics for his work.

Learn More About Eugene F. Fama

Fama's influence is felt not only in the field of economics, but in the investment community where his research has brought an empirical and scientific rigor to the field, transforming the way finance is viewed and conducted.

A prolific author, Fama has written two books and published more than 100 articles in academic journals, focusing mainly on the relation between risk and return and implications for portfolio management. He is among the most cited of America's researchers.

Besides teaching at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Fama is chairman of the Center for Research in Security Prices at Chicago Booth, which was founded 50 years ago to create the finest tools for tracking, measuring, and analyzing securities data.

Fama is also director and consultant to Dimensional Fund Advisors, Inc., an investment advising firm with $251 billion under management (as of September 2012).

View Fama's Q&A (at minute 20) with Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal at the AEI Leadership Summit, where Fama was awarded the Irving Kristol Award. Listen to the Fama on Finance podcast; Listen to the Perspectives on Financial Research taped at the 65th CFA Institute Annual Conference podcast; read Fama's professional autobiography, My Life in Finance (PDF); or read Fama's article "The Best Advice I Ever Got."

Awards and Honors

Fama has received numerous awards and honors including:

  • American Enterprise Institute’s Irving Kristol Award (2014)
  • The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (2013)
  • The Fred Arditti Innovation Award (2007) given by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Center for Innovation. In announcing the year's award, Myron S. Scholes, Nobel Prize-winning economist and chairman of CME's Competitive Markets Advisory Council said, "Eugene Fama has had pathbreaking insights into the functioning of markets, asset pricing theory, and corporate finance that have benefited market participants worldwide."
  • Fama was the first recipient of three major prizes for research in finance: the Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics (2005), the Morgan Stanley American Finance Association Award for Excellence in Finance (2007), and the Onassis Prize in Finance (2009).
  • The Chaire Francqui (Belgian National Science Prize) (1982)
  • The Nicholas Molodovsky Award (2006) from the CFA Institute recognizing his work in portfolio theory and asset pricing
  • The Smith Breeden Prize (1992) for best paper in the Journal of Finance ("The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns" with Kenneth R. French)
  • The Fama-DFA Prize (1998) for the best paper published in the Journal of Financial Economics in the areas of capital markets and asset pricing ("Market Efficiency Long-Term Returns and Behavioral Finance")

Academic Career

Fama earned a bachelor's degree from Tufts University in 1960, followed by an MBA and PhD from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1964. He also has been awarded a doctor of law degree from the University of Rochester and DePaul University; a doctor honoris causa from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium; and a doctor of science honoris causa from Tufts University.

Fama was the first elected fellow of the American Finance Association in 2001 and is also a fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.