Peter L. Bernstein

Peter L. Bernstein was an economic consultant and historian whose work and writing sought to bring academic theory and practice together in the world of finance. From 1973 until his retirement, Mr. Bernstein ran Peter L. Bernstein Inc., a New York-based consulting firm, and produced Economics & Portfolio Strategy, a bi-weekly newsletter. Before starting his own firm, he spent 16 years working at Bernstein-Macauley, an investment company co-founded by his father; he ultimately became CEO of that firm, selling it to Carter, Berlind & Weill Inc., in 1967. Mr. Bernstein stayed on as chief investment strategist at Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt, whose principals included future Citigroup chief executive Sanford Weill. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bernstein worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and served in the Air Force during World War II, where he was stationed in London.

Mr. Bernstein wrote 10 books on economics and finance, including The Price of Prosperity (1962), A Primer on Money, Banking and Gold (1965), and Economist on Wall Street (1970). In 1974, he founded The Journal of Portfolio Management, working as the first editor of the journal and later serving as a consulting editor. His best-known work, Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street (1991), is widely acclaimed as a book about modern financial theory. In 1998, he published Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk, following up with The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession (2001) and Capital Ideas Evolving in 2007. Mr. Bernstein also produced one book on US history, Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation in 2005, and co-wrote two books about U.S. government finance with Robert L. Heilbroner. In addition, Mr. Bernstein edited or co-edited five other books over the span of his long career.

Mr. Bernstein attended Harvard University, where he majored in political science before switching to economics. He received a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in 1940 and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.