Professor Bengt Holmstrom joined MIT's Department of Economics in 1994, where he currently is the Paul A. Samuelson Professor of Economics. He also has a joint appointment at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Professor Holmstrom received his undergraduate degree from the University of Helsinki in 1972 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1978. He was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994. He is a fellow of the Econometric Society, a member of its council and executive committee, and a foreign fellow of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters (1992). He holds honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Vaasa (1988) and the Stockholm School of Economics (1998).

Professor Holmstrom's research on the economic theory of the firm, especially contracting and incentives, is internationally recognised. He has written on organisational and incentive design, executive compensation, capital management, labor contracting, and most recently on the role of liquidity in asset markets and the macroeconomy. He is an associate editor of several scholarly journals, including Econometrica, the Journal of Law, Economics and Organisation and the Review of Economic Design. He is a Research Associate in the corporate finance program of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the executive board of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Professor Holmstrom has been engaged as a consultant by several companies, including McKinsey & Co, Northwest Airlines and Nokia. He sits on the boards of Kuusakoski Oy, a major European recycling company and Nokia, the leading supplier of mobile phones and wireless equipment.