Advancing Economic Measurement
To promote research on the measurement of prices, output, labor market outcomes, technology, and related concepts, as well as demonstration projects that will lead to the implementation of new approaches to the creation of official economic statistics, with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the NBER has established an Economic Measurement Research Institute (EMRI) under the direction of Katharine Abraham (University of Maryland) and Matthew Shapiro (University of Michigan).
The EMRI seeks proposals for research on innovations in economic measurement with the objective of being translated into improvements in official statistics and statistical agency practice. Projects that explore the use of new sources of data that could be incorporated into the production of official statistics to improve the accuracy, timeliness, and/or granularity of existing data series or to fill important gaps in available statistics are most likely to be favorably evaluated. All subject areas bearing on official economic statistics are in scope; priority areas include labor market statistics, the measurement of economic activity and inflation, and statistics relevant to assessing the impact of R&D and new technologies on the economy. Proposals should include a plan for collaboration between the academic research team and federal statistical agency staff. Researchers with project ideas, but who do not yet have a statistical agency collaborator, are encouraged to reach out to the EMRI directors to discuss potential strategies for collaboration.
Proposals should include a three- to five-page summary of the research project. The summary should describe the proposed research project and how it could translate into improvements in statistical agency practice, as well as the qualifications of the research team. It must be possible to complete the project or a substantial sub-part of it in the next two years. In addition to the project summary, the proposal should also include, in a single PDF file, the c.v. of the principal investigator (PI) and a budget outlining the resources required to implement the project. Expense items may include PI time (up to $35,000 per investigator per year), research assistant time, and data purchases. The total direct costs should not exceed $140,000 for projects for which the necessary data are already in hand, and $160,000 for projects that require data purchase. Proposals may be submitted via the following form (please note that a Google account is required in order to access the link):
https://forms.gle/o8eNm2CvVGGbsPVQ7
The submission deadline is 11:59pm ET on Thursday, January 15, 2026. In fairness to all applicants, proposals submitted after this deadline will not be considered. Please circulate this call for proposals to colleagues and other researchers who are carrying out research that could be suitable for funding.
All proposals must have at least one investigator who is a faculty member at a US college or university. Proposals from scholars who are early in their careers, and from researchers with and without NBER affiliations, are welcome. All faculty and graduate students budgeted for support must be based at US institutions and be eligible to be paid as NBER employees. The NBER will not make sub-awards. All investigators and co-investigators must hold PhDs and will be required to attest to their compliance with the NBER Professional Code of Conduct.
The NBER expects to issue another similar call for proposals in 2026, and researchers who have early-stage projects that are not yet ready for funding are encouraged to submit an overview of their planned work so that the EMRI Codirectors will be aware of potential future projects.
The EMRI Codirectors and Advisory Committee members, in consultation with NSF program staff, will review the submissions. Evaluation criteria will include the importance of the questions being asked; the feasibility of the proposed research; the extent to which the proposed research will complement or substitute for work already being carried out within the federal statistical agencies; and the overall impact the research might have in advancing the production of economic statistics. Decisions will be made by February 27, 2026. Successful applicants will be expected to begin their research during the summer of 2026 and to present their findings at a subsequent EMRI conference on economic measurement.
Questions about the application process or the research initiative should be directed to Ms. Alison Oaxaca (aoaxaca@nber.org).