National Bureau of Economic Research

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National Bureau of Economic Research

Basic facts
Location:| Cambridge, Mass.
Type:| 501(c)(3)
Top official:| James Poterba, President
Year founded:| 1920
Employees:| 45
Website:| Official website
Budget
2015:| $34,555,844

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a think tank that supports, publishes, and distributes scholarly research on economics and economic policy. More than 1,400 professors and scholars work on NBER research projects. Founded in 1920, it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Cambridge, Mass., with a branch office in New York City.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Mission
* 2 History
* 3 Work
* 3.1 Research programs
* 3.2 Working groups
* 3.3 Business Cycle Dating Committee
* 4 Leadership
* 4.1 Board of Directors
* 5 Finances
* 6 Recent news
* 7 See also
* 8 External links
* 9 Footnotes

## Mission[edit]

On its website, NBER gives the following mission statement:[1]

“  |

NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, and business professionals. [2]

| ”

|
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—National Bureau of Economic Research[1]

## History[edit]

NBER was founded in 1920. According to its website, "twenty-five Nobel Prize winners in Economics and thirteen past chairs of the President's Council of Economic Advisers have held NBER affiliations."[1]

## Work[edit]

The primary activity of the National Bureau of Economic Research is to support and publish scholarly research in various fields of economics. The think tank operates twenty research programs and fifteen working groups, each led by a director or two co-directors.[3] It also sponsors a Business Cycle Dating Committee.[4]

NBER works with more than 1,400 researchers, most of whom are professors and scholars of economics or business at North American colleges and universities. The organization also employs a support staff of 45 people. Its main office is located in Cambridge, Mass., and there is a branch office in New York City.[1]

Economist, author, and former NBER research fellow Steven Levitt wrote that the organization is important as an "information clearinghouse" because it "serves the critical function of letting economists know what other economists are working on now, as opposed to two or three years from now, when the research actually appears in academic, peer-reviewed journals."[5]

### Research programs[edit]

NBER researchers are usually affiliated with at least one research program. According to the organization's website, these programs "correspond loosely to traditional fields of study within the field of economics, and they encompass a wide range of research within such fields." Most programs hold biannual meetings and participate in the NBER Summer Institute. Below is a list of the research programs supported by NBER:[3]

* Aging (AG)
* Asset Pricing (AP)
* Children (CH)
* Corporate Finance (CF)
* Development Economics (DEV)
* Development of the American Economy (DAE)
* Economics of Education (ED)
* Economic Fluctuations and Growth (EFG)
* Environmental and Energy Economics (EEE)
* Health Care (HC)
* Health Economics (HE)
* Industrial Organization (IO)
* International Finance and Macroeconomics (IFM)
* International Trade and Investment (ITI)
* Labor Studies (LS)
* Law and Economics (LE)
* Monetary Economics (ME)
* Political Economy (POL)
* Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Program (PR)
* Public Economics (PE)

More complete descriptions of these programs can be accessed here, on the NBER website.

### Working groups[edit]

Scholars that belong to NBER working groups usually convene once per year to share research findings and draft publications, known as working papers. These groups work on specific topics and sub-fields of economics, usually more directed than programs. Below is a list of the working groups supported by NBER:[6][7]

* Behavioral Finance (BF)
* Chinese Economy (CE)
* Cohort Studies (CS)
* Economics of Crime (CRI)
* Economics of National Security (ENS)
* Entrepreneurship (ENT)
* Household Finance (HF)
* Innovation Policy (IPE)
* Insurance (INS)
* Market Design (MD)
* Market Microstructure (MM)
* Organizational Economics (OE)
* Personnel Economics (PER)
* Risks of Financial Institutions (FR)
* Urban Economics (UE)

A list of NBER working papers, organized by topic area, can be accessed here. Former NBER research fellow Steven Levitt estimated that by 2008, the organization had collected more than 13,000 working papers.[5]

### Business Cycle Dating Committee[edit]

In 1978, the think tank created a committee intended to identify the start and end dates of economic recessions in the United States:[4][5]

“  |

The NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee maintains a chronology of the U.S. business cycle. The chronology comprises alternating dates of peaks and troughs in economic activity. A recession is a period between a peak and a trough, and an expansion is a period between a trough and a peak. During a recession, a significant decline in economic activity spreads across the economy and can last from a few months to more than a year. Similarly, during an expansion, economic activity rises substantially, spreads across the economy, and usually lasts for several years. [2]

| ”

|
|

—National Bureau of Economic Research[4]

## Leadership[edit]

As of July 2016, the president of the National Bureau of Economic Research was Dr. James Poterba. He took on this position in 2008. Poterba is also the Mitsui Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society. He studied economics at Harvard University and then as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, where he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree.[8][5]

### Board of Directors[edit]

As of September 2015, the Board of Directors of NBER included the following individuals:[9]

Officers

* Martin B. Zimmerman, Chairman
* Karen N. Horn, Vice Chairman
* James Poterba, President and Chief Executive Officer
* Robert Mednick, Treasurer
* Alterra Milone, Corporate Secretary
* Kelly Horak, Controller and Assistant Corporate Secretary
* Denis Healy, Assistant Corporate Secretary

Directors by University Appointment

* Timothy Bresnahan, Stanford University
* Pierre-André Chiappori, Columbia University
* Alan V. Deardorff, University of Michigan
* Ray C. Fair, Yale University
* Edward Foster, University of Minnesota
* John P. Gould, University of Chicago
* Mark Grinblatt, University of California at Los Angeles
* Bruce Hansen, University of Wisconsin-Madison
* Benjamin Hermalin, University of California at Berkeley
* Marjorie B. McElroy, Duke University
* Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University
* Andrew Postlewaite, University of Pennsylvania
* Cecilia Rouse, Princeton University
* Richard Schmalensee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* David B. Yoffie, Harvard University

Directors by Appointment of Other Organizations

* Jean-Paul Chavas, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
* Martin J. Gruber, American Finance Association
* Arthur Kennickell, American Statistical Association
* Jack Kleinhenz, National Association for Business Economics
* William W. Lewis, Committee for Economic Development
* Robert Mednick, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
* Alan L. Olmstead, Economic History Association
* Peter L. Rousseau, American Economic Association
* Gregor W. Smith, Canadian Economics Association
* William Spriggs, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
* Bart van Ark, Conference Board

Directors at Large

* Peter C. Aldrich
* Elizabeth E. Bailey
* John H. Biggs
* John S. Clarkeson
* Don R. Conlan
* Kathleen B. Cooper
* Charles H. Dallara
* George C. Eads
* Jessica P. Einhorn
* Mohamed El-Erian
* Linda Ewing
* Jacob Frenkel
* Judith M. Gueron
* Robert S. Hamada
* Peter Blair Henry
* John Lipsky
* Laurence Meyer
* Michael H. Moskow
* Alicia H. Munnell
* Robert T. Parry
* John S. Reed
* Marina v. N. Whitman

Directors Emeriti

* George Akerlof
* Jagdish Bhagwati
* Carl F. Christ
* Franklin Fisher
* George Hatsopoulos
* Saul H. Hymans
* Rudolph A. Oswald
* Peter G. Peterson
* John J. Siegfried
* Craig Swan

## Finances[edit]

Based on IRS tax records published on GuideStar, the following is a breakdown of the organization's finances for fiscal years 2011-2015:[10][11]

Annual revenue and expenses for NBER, 2011-2014

Tax Year  | Total Revenue  | Total Expenses
2015 | $34,555,844 | $32,891,002
2014 | $35,711,166 | $32,979,628
2013 | $39,720,762 | $35,749,616
2012 | $39,164,745 | $36,411,282
2011 | $40,002,023 | $38,449,627

NBER's website says that it is funded "by research grants from government agencies and private foundations, by investment income, and by contributions from individuals and corporations."[1] Corporate and individual sponsors of NBER for fiscal year 2016 included:[12]

Corporations and Corporate Foundations

Contributing $10,000 - $25,000:

* AIG
* AQR
* Bank for International Settlements
* Bracebridge Capital
* Brevan Howard
* Capital Group Companies
* Credit Suisse
* ExxonMobil
* Fuller & Thaler Asset Management
* General Electric
* General Motors Foundation

* Goldman Sachs
* Google
* Insurance Information Institute
* JP Morgan Chase Institute
* Pfizer, Inc.
* Vanguard

Contributing $5,000 or Less:

* Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System
* Haver Analytics, Inc.
* Macroeconomic Advisers
* U. S. Regional Federal Reserve Banks (12)

Individual Supporters

Contributing $5,000 or Less:

* Allen Sinai
* Francis Schott

Central Banks Contributing to Support NBER Summer Institute

Contributing $10,000 - $15,000:

* Bank of France
* Bank of Italy
* Bank of Japan
* Bank of Netherlands
* Monetary Authority of Singapore
* Reserve Bank of India

## Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'National Bureau of Economic Research' NBER. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

National Bureau of Economic Research - Google News

## See also[edit]

* Brookings Institution
* 501(c)(3)
* Nonprofit organization

## External links[edit]

* NBER website
* Profile on EDIRC, a project of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
* NBER on social media:
* Twitter
* Facebook
* LinkedIn

* NBER working papers, by topic
* NBER monographs published by the University of Chicago Press
* NBER RSS feeds
* News about NBER from The Economist
* News about NBER from The New York Times

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 National Bureau of Economic Research, "About the NBER," accessed July 7, 2016
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 National Bureau of Economic Research, "Major Programs at the NBER," accessed July 7, 2016
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 National Bureau of Economic Research, "The NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee," accessed July 15, 2016
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Freakonomics Blog, "A Changing of the Guard at the National Bureau of Economic Research," February 20, 2008
6. ↑ National Bureau of Economic Research, "Working Groups," accessed July 7, 2016
7. ↑ National Bureau of Economic Research, "NBER Working Papers Listed by Working Group," accessed July 14, 2016
8. ↑ National Bureau of Economic Research, "James Poterba," accessed July 7, 2016
9. ↑ National Bureau of Economic Research, "Board of Directors," accessed July 7, 2016
10. ↑ GuideStar, "National Bureau of Economic Research," accessed July 11, 2016
11. ↑ National Bureau of Economic Research, "National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., Summary Statements for the Fiscal Year ended June 30th, 2015," accessed July 15, 2016
12. ↑ National Bureau of Economic Research, "NBER Corporate, Corporate Foundations and Individual Supporters: Fiscal Year 2016 (ended 6/30/2016)," accessed July 14, 2016

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