Have we had our moment of silence yet to mark the passing the other day of Fisher Black, co-author of the Black-Scholes options pricing model? This paragraph, from an obit distributed on the Financial Economists Network, should put us in the proper memorial mood. > Fischer became interested in finance after earning a Ph.D. > in applied mathematics from Harvard. At the time, he had no > academic appointment but was working as a consultant in > Boston. Although the paper in which he and Myron Scholes > presented their formula would later create a revolution in > finance, they had trouble publishing it in an academic > journal until Merton Miller convinced the editors of the > Journal of Political Economy of its importance. Today there > is scarcely a finance professional, and no finance > academic, who does not know about their formula. The formula > is available on calculators, spreadsheets, and on-line > services. It forms the basis for the pricing of derivative > instruments. Their seminal work started a new profession, > financial engineering, and played a huge role in the success > of finance as both an academic and practical field over the > last twenty years. Actually, I thought Andre Meyer coined the term "financial engineering," but who knows? Where would we be without this grand new profession? Awash in unhedgeable risk, no doubt. Doug -- Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax
