Sad News - Passing of Nate Rosenberg

From: James Poterba <poterba_at_nber.org>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 09:06:05 -0400

Dear Members of the Development of the American Economy and
Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Programs -

I write with the sad news that Nathan Rosenberg, a pioneer in the study
of the economics of technological change who also served as Stanford
University's representative on the NBER Board of Directors from 1980
until 2010, passed away on Monday at the age of 87. Nate received his
undergraduate degree from Rutgers, and his Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconsin. He began his academic career at Indiana University, and
served as a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, Purdue,
Harvard, and the University of Wisconsin before moving to Stanford in
1974. Nate was the Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. Professor of Public
Policy, Emeritus, at Stanford, and an NBER board member emeritus, at the
time of his death.

Nate's research was primarily concerned with the the economics of
innovation, and he drew on historical as well as contemporary evidence
to illuminate the economic forces that influence the rate of technical
progress. His work had a powerful impact on both the micro-economic and
macro-economic understanding of the role of innovation in economic
growth, as well as on the recognition of the impact of institutions and
policy in shaping the innovation process. His contributions were widely
celebrated. When the Society of the History of Technology awarded him
the Leonardo da Vinci Medal, the citation described him as having
"almost single-handedly changed the way economists and economic
historians think about technology and the nature of economic change."

Nate was keenly interested in the affairs of the NBER, and in those of
the DAE and PRIE programs in particular. We have lost a great scholar
and friend; he will be deeply missed.

Jim Poterba
Received on Tue Aug 25 2015 - 09:18:05 EDT