National Bureau of Economic Research

National Bureau of Economic Research
Name	National Bureau of Economic Research
Formation	1920
Type	Research institute
Headquarters	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Leader title	President
Leader name	James M. Poterba

Contents

National Bureau of Economic Research is an American private nonprofit research organization that produces empirical and quantitative studies on United States macroeconomic and microeconomic topics, labor markets, inflation, and technological change. Founded in 1920, the institute has been central to debates involving Great Depression, New Deal, Post–World War II economic expansion, and contemporary policy discussions about Great Recession (2007–2009), COVID-19 pandemic, and financial crises. Its staff, affiliated scholars, and working papers have influenced scholars and policymakers associated with institutions such as Federal Reserve System, United States Department of the Treasury, and international organizations including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

History

The bureau was established in 1920 by a group of economists and business leaders following studies of business cycles influenced by earlier work from Wesley Clair Mitchell, Arthur F. Burns, and economists connected to the Carnegie Institution for Science and Rockefeller Foundation. Early activities connected the bureau to research on the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and projects that engaged scholars like Irving Fisher, Simon Kuznets, and John Maynard Keynes-influenced contemporaries. During the mid-20th century the organization interacted with figures from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Columbia University while producing influential reports that informed policymakers during the New Deal and wartime planning in the era of World War II. In the postwar decades the bureau's methodologies and datasets were used by economists such as Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow, and Jan Tinbergen to analyze growth, inflation, and stabilization policy. Recent decades saw collaborations with scholars tied to Princeton University, University of Chicago, Stanford University, Yale University, and University of California, Berkeley on topics including globalization, inequality, and technological diffusion.

Governance combines an executive office, research directors, and a council of affiliated scholars drawn from major universities and think tanks. Leadership has included presidents and research directors who previously held positions at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, and University of Pennsylvania. The bureau maintains offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and coordinates networks of affiliates at institutions like Northwestern University, Duke University, New York University, Brown University, and London School of Economics. Its governing board historically has included trustees and corporate officers from foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, and philanthropic families connected to the Rockefeller Foundation. Administrative practices emphasize peer review, working-paper circulation among scholars at Princeton University, University of Chicago, Stanford University, Yale University, and external referees drawn from journals associated with American Economic Association members.

Research is organized into programs spanning macroeconomics, labor studies, health economics, public economics, industrial organization, international finance, and productivity measurement. Program directors and affiliated scholars have included recipients of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and authors who publish in outlets like American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, and discipline-related volumes. The bureau issues working papers, monographs, and edited volumes; its Working Paper Series has featured contributions from figures such as Joseph Stiglitz, Gary Becker, James Heckman, Thomas Piketty, Esther Duflo, and Angus Deaton. Longitudinal datasets and specialized series produced by the bureau have been cited in studies by researchers at Princeton University, Columbia Business School, Harvard Kennedy School, MIT Sloan School of Management, and policy analyses at Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Bank of England.

One of the bureau's most visible roles is dating peaks and troughs in the United States business cycle; committees composed of economists associated with NBER determine turning points used by central banks, fiscal authorities, and researchers. Methodological contributions draw on time-series analysis pioneered by scholars linked to Wesley Clair Mitchell, Arthur F. Burns, and later econometricians at Cowles Foundation and Hoover Institution. Techniques used include examination of industrial production, payroll employment, real income, and trade series developed alongside work by Simon Kuznets and C. Arthur Williams. Business-cycle pronouncements have been cited by officials at the Federal Reserve Board, academics at Columbia University and Princeton University, and analysts in the Congressional Budget Office when assessing recessions such as the Recession of 1980–1982 and the Great Recession (2007–2009).

The organization convenes conferences, summer institutes, and seminars that bring together scholars from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Chicago, Yale University, London School of Economics, Bocconi University, and policy practitioners from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank. Events include program meetings, NBER Summer Institute-style gatherings, and workshops on topics like labor markets, health care, taxation, and international trade featuring speakers such as Olivier Blanchard, Ben Bernanke, Alan Krueger, and Raghu Rajan. Outreach extends to teaching initiatives with graduate programs at institutions like Columbia University, New York University, University of Michigan, and executive education collaborations with central bank staff.

Funding sources include endowments, foundation grants from organizations like the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, corporate contributions, and subscriptions to the working-paper series by universities and libraries. Affiliations span academic partnerships with Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Yale University, and think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and American Enterprise Institute. Financial support and collaborative grants have linked bureau projects to international agencies including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and bilateral research programs with entities in the European Union, Japan, and Canada.