William F. Sharpe

American economist

  • Fame54.1
  • Momentum0.0
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Born 1934 · age 92United States

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  • Wikipedia
    52 languages
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  • Age
    92
    Born 1934
  • Awards
    3
    recognised works
Summary
Updated 2026-06-11

He gave finance a way to measure whether risk is worth taking. The Sharpe ratio — return divided by volatility — turned portfolio management from art into math, and made him a Nobel laureate in the process.

Biography

About

William Forsyth Sharpe was born June 16, 1934, and built his career at the intersection of economics and investment theory. He co-originated the capital asset pricing model, which reshaped how markets think about risk and expected return. In 1990 he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for that work. Along the way he developed the Sharpe ratio for risk-adjusted performance analysis, contributed to the binomial method for option valuation, created the gradient method for asset allocation, and pioneered returns-based style analysis for evaluating fund behavior. He became the STANCO…

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In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from William F. Sharpe

William F. Sharpe
said
From a more theoretical viewpoint, one can focus on the nexus between the present and the future.
William Sharpe’s February 1992 lecture at Trinity University: in: William Breit, ‎Barry T. Hirsch (2009). Lives of the Laureates:
William F. Sharpe
said
The central question for positive financial economics is valuation – what is the value today of a set of future prospective cash flows?
William Sharpe’s February 1992 lecture at Trinity University: in: William Breit, ‎Barry T. Hirsch (2009). Lives of the Laureates:
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54.1
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Historical24.1
Source confidence60.0
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