Morton Kamien

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 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]