Harry Markowitz, born in 1927, is an American Economist and Professor of Finance at the University of California, San Diego. He is one of the many disciples that the renowned Chicago School has given. Due to his contributions to financial economics he was rewarded with the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1990 along with William Sharpe and Merton Miller.

Markowitz has conducted researches on portfolio selection and diversification, and asset management in order to maximize its return.  His most important work “Portfolio Selection: Efficient Diversification of Investments”, published in 1959, proves that the volatility, and therefore risk, of a diversified portfolio is lower than a portfolio dealing with a unique share.

The Harry Markowitz model, based on expected returns and standard deviation, first introduced in 1952, shows how to reduce risk when managing portfolios. Markowitz placed the foundations from which W. Sharpe would construct his capital assets pricing model (CAPM).

Markowitz’s work on portfolio theory has proven the use of financial microanalysis when dealing with economic analysis.