Robert C. Merton earned a bachelor's degree in engineering mathematics from Columbia University, a master's degree in engineering mathematics from the California Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then served on the finance faculty of the MIT Sloan School of Management until 1988, when he moved to Harvard Business School.

Merton is a fellow of the American Association of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also past president of the American Finance Association. He serves as co-editor of the Annual Review of Financial Economics and is a member of the MIT Sloan Finance Group Advisory Board, among many other appointments.

Merton was a founding principal of Long Term Capital Management, and is currently the developer of SmartNest, a pension management system that addresses deficiencies associated with traditional defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans.