Morton Kamien

Morton I. Kamien
Born	(1938-08-15)August 15, 1938 Poland
Died	November 18, 2011(2011-11-18) (aged 73) Evanston, Illinois
Nationality	American
Academic career
Field	Mathematical economics
Institution	Northwestern University
Alma mater	City College of New York Purdue University

Morton Isaac Kamien (August 15, 1938 – November 18, 2011) was an American economist notable for his contributions in industrial organization and mathematical economics. He was a professor of entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management from 1970 to 2007.[1]

Born to Jewish parents in Poland, Kamien and his family escaped the Warsaw Ghetto before it was razed in 1944.[1][2] Together with his father, Kamien moved to Munich, Bavaria, and finally immigrated to the United States in 1947, arriving in New York City.[1] As his father struggled to regain a footing, Morton Kamien stayed in an orphanage in Far Rockaway, Queens.[1]

Having financed his studies by selling clothing, Kamien graduated from City College of New York in 1960,[3] and then pursued a PhD in economics from Purdue University, where Nancy Lou Schwartz and Hugo F. Sonnenschein were among his classmates.[4] After his PhD in 1964, he first joined faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, before moving to Northwestern where he stayed until his retirement in 2007.[1]

Kamien also acted as an expert witness in several high-profile antitrust cases, including Conwood vs. U.S. Tobacco and American Express vs. Visa/Mastercard,[5] leading to the largest antitrust jury award ($1.05 billion) and antitrust settlement ($4.1 billion) to date.[1]

Selected publications

• Kamien, M. I. (1964). An econometric study of structural changes in the composition of the labor force, with special reference to the railroads. Purdue University. (book)
• Kamien, M. I., & Schwartz, N. L. (1975). Market structure and innovation: A survey. Journal of economic literature, 13(1), 1-37.
• Kamien, M. I., & Schwartz, N. L. (1976). On the degree of rivalry for maximum innovative activity. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 90(2), 245–260.
• Kamien, M. I., & Schwartz, N. L. (1978). Self-Financing of an R and D Project. The American Economic Review, 68(3), 252–261.
• Kamien, M. I., & Schwartz, N. L. (1982). Market structure and innovation. Cambridge University Press. (book)

References

1. "In memoriam: Professor Emeritus Morton I. Kamien, 1938–2011". Northwestern Kellogg. December 19, 2011.
2. F. M. Scherer (2000). "The Emigration of German-Speaking Economists after 1933". Journal of Economic Literature. 38 (3): 616. doi:10.1257/jel.38.3.614. JSTOR 2565422.
3. Cattell, James McKeen (1968). American Men of Science: A Biographical Directory. Vol. 7. Bowker. p. 811.
4. Kamien, Morton I. (1981). "It's Just Like New York!". Essays in Contemporary Fields of Economics. Purdue University Press. pp. 365–368. ISBN 0-911198-59-8.
5. Wright, Joshua D. (2009). "Antitrust Analysis of Category Management: Conwood v United States Tobacco Co". Supreme Court Economic Review. 17 (1): 311–337. doi:10.1086/656059. JSTOR 656059. S2CID 225088929.

External links

• Morton Kamien at Find a Grave