Frederic M. Scherer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Frederic M. "Mike" Scherer, Aetna Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Harvard Kennedy School, died at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 25, 2025. He was 92.
Dr. Scherer was the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books and 200 articles and case studies. From 1974 to 1976, he served as chief economist at the Federal Trade Commission, leading efforts to implement the Commission's Line of Business reporting program.
Born in Ottawa, Illinois, on August 1, 1932, Dr. Scherer earned the rank of Eagle Scout and worked as a reporter and photographer for the Daily Republican Times while in high school. He graduated from Marquette High School in 1950, and from the University of Michigan in 1954, where he was a reporter for The Michigan Daily, senior class president of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and a member of the Michigamua honor society and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
Drafted into the U.S. Army after graduation, he served in the Counter Intelligence Corps in West Germany, where he met his future wife, Barbara Silbermann. They married in 1957. After his service, he earned an MBA and later a Ph.D. in business economics from Harvard.
Dr. Scherer's academic work focused on industrial organization and the role of technological innovation in economic growth. His textbook, Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance, first published in 1970, became the standard in its field. Another influential book, Mergers, Sell-Offs, and Economic Efficiency (1987), co-authored with David Ravenscraft, analyzed the impact of the 1960s merger wave, showing how many conglomerate mergers reduced rather than enhanced efficiency.
Prior to Harvard, Dr. Scherer taught economics at Princeton University, the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Swarthmore College. He was a gifted teacher and mentor and was known for his witty, self-deprecating sense of humor. A lifelong fan of spy novels, he loved telling the story of his chance encounter with author John le Carré, who told him, "You look like an old spook."
After retiring from Harvard, Dr. Scherer combined his love of music and economics in his 2004 book Quarter Notes and Bank Notes, which examined how classical music composition evolved from a patronage-based system to a market-driven one. The book drew on data about 646 composers born between 1650 and 1849 and offered fresh insights into copyright law and the music publishing industry.
A self-described disciple of Joseph Schumpeter, Dr. Scherer served as president of the International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society (1988–90), the Industrial Organization Society (1992–93), and vice president of both the American Economic Association and Southern Economic Association.
He frequently testified as an expert in antitrust, patent, and trade cases, including litigation involving IBM, Microsoft, Intel, and Toys R Us. His work was cited by federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court in major antitrust decisions. He also advised on patent policy that led to the Bayh-Dole and Stevenson-Wydler Acts of 1980, which transferred patent rights for government-funded research to universities and industry. At a 2001 WTO/WHO conference, he presented economic arguments supporting lower pharmaceutical prices for low-income countries-recommendations that influenced international agreements to expand access to medicines for diseases like HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.
Dr. Scherer is survived by his wife of 67 years, Barbara Silbermann Scherer of Cambridge, Massachusetts, his brother, Walter K. Scherer, Jr. (Bonnie), of Palm City, Florida, three children, Thomas Scherer of Washington, DC, Karen Greenhaw (Carl) of Grass Valley, California, and Christina Scherer (Brian Burt) of Concord, Massachusetts, along with eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.