Marco Pagano was born in 1956, holds a B.A. in Economics at Cambridge University (UK) and a Ph.D. in Economics at MIT. After teaching at the University of Naples, at Bocconi University and at the Università di Salerno, he is now a Professor in the Economics Faculty at Università di Napoli Federico II.

He is Co-Director of the Research Programme in Financial Economics of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and a member of the Council of the European Economic Association. He is a consultant to the Italian Treasury on the reform of security markets, and a member of the Treasury's commission for privatisations.

In 1997 he was awarded the BACOB European Prize for Economic and Financial Research, jointly with Ailsa Röell. Most of his work is in the area of financial economics, especially in the field of stock market microstructure, where he has investigated the relationship between stock market thinness, price volatility and liquidity; the differences between dealer and auction markets; and the competition between trading systems in European equity markets. Recently, his research interests have also included topics in banking and corporate finance.

He has also done research in macroeconomics, especially on saving behavior and on the relationships between financial markets and the macroeconomy. His publications have appeared in several journals, such as The American Economic Review, The Review of Economic Studies, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, The Journal of Finance, The Review of Financial Studies, the European Economic Review, and the Economic Journal.