Background
Gort, Michael was born on September 30, 1923 in Minsk, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Came from China to the United States, 1937.
Gort, Michael was born on September 30, 1923 in Minsk, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Came from China to the United States, 1937.
AB, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 1943. AM, Columbia University, 1951. Doctor of Philosophy, Columbia University, 1954.
Lecturer in economics University California, Berkeley, 1951-1954. Member research staff National Bureau Economic Research, New York City, 1954-1957. Associate professor finance University Chicago, 1957-1962.
Consultant Department Commerce, Washington, 1962-1963. Professor economics State University of New York, Buffalo, since 1963. Visiting professor economics Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1967-1968.
Senior research staff member and director research program in industrial organization National Bureau Economic Research, New York City, 1971-1975. President Michael Gort Associates LLC, Buffalo, since 2004.
The common theme in most of my research has been the role of constraints on the choices and behaviour of firms arising from their endowments. These endowments are seen as dependent upon the history of the firm and/or the juncture in the evolution of the industry that the firm finds itself. In my study of product diversification (Diversification and Integration in American Industry), the key variable in determining diversification decisions was seen as the requirements for human capital in the form of technological skills needed for entry into new markets.
Comparative advantage was then decided by the endowments of the firm with respect to such
skills which, in turn, depended upon the industries in which the firm was already active. In a forthcoming sequel to this work, the additional conclusion is drawn that diversification decisions represent an attempt to preserve the firms accumulated organisational (human) capital.
The interdependence between past decisions and present choices is also the central theme in No. 4 above. The power of investment to change output depends not only upon the current technological attributes of the production process, but also upon the accumulated stock of capital goods that firms possess.
This is because new investment interacts with old investment in the production process, and the vintage of old investment determines the flexibility of such interactions. In No. 9 above, a central focus is the impact of innovations on entry and on the number of firms in a market. Once again evolutionary factors are seen as decisive.
In the early stages of an industry’s life-cycle, it is shown that innovation accelerates entry while in the late phases of the cycle it retards entry. A closely related theme, though with respect to a different set of questions, is developed in No. 5. It is shown that the development and, hence, the characteristics of markets determine the degree of uncertainty about the future earnings of firms.
This, in turn, generates discrepancies in valuation and, as a result, mergers.
Member advisory committee United States Bureau of the Census, 1994-2000. Member American Economic Association.
Married Elizabeth Ann Mitchell, June 15, 1957. Children: William Henry, Adam Michael.