Michel Robe

Dr. Michel A. Robe is a Full Professor of Finance at UR. He holds the Patricia A. and George W. Wellde, Jr. Distinguished Chair in Finance. He joined the Robins School of Business from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was The Clearing Corporation Foundation Endowed Professor in Derivatives Trading.

Dr. Robe started the Robins Initiative on Commodities & Natural Resources at RSB. He has written numerous articles on the causes and consequences of volatility, the financialization of commodities, and international financial linkages. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Commodity Markets and is the Deputy Chairman of the Commodity and Energy Markets Association and a member of CEMA’s Executive Committee. His research has appeared in top generalist journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and the International Economic Review; in top field journals such as the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and the Energy Journal; and in numerous other academic journals and in books. His current work deals with the political economy of commodity price volatility, the organization and microstructure of derivatives markets, and investor protection.

Dr. Robe previously taught at the University of Miami, McGill University, and American University in Washington, DC. He was detailed to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Senior Economist in 2006, and again in 2008 and 2009 amid unprecedented volatility in financial and commodity markets. He has since continued to advise the CFTC as a consultant. He has also consulted for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). He received an M.S. in Finance and a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from Carnegie Mellon University.