Financial economics was never simply an academic endeavor, and putting finance theory to practical use was seen as entirely legitimate. The interweaving of innovation in financial economics and developments in the financial markets meant that, despite the hostility of many in the markets to finance theory, attractive consultancies were available from the 1960s on. Before long, there were tempting job opportunities in the finance sector. In 1984, for example, Fischer Black resigned his professorship at MIT's Sloan School of Management for a post at Goldman Sachs, where he remained until his death in 1995. In 1990, Scholes became a consultant to Salomon Brothers, and later he became joint head of the group at Salomon that traded and sold bond derivatives, though he also maintained an academic attachment to Stanford University.

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 1096