Firms, Technology, and Economic Implications

September 25, 2026 — Cambridge, MA

Firms are the central locus of production, investment, and technological adoption in modern economies. How firms finance their operations, deploy technology, and respond to changing economic conditions have far-reaching consequences for aggregate productivity, resource allocation, and macroeconomic dynamics.

To promote research on these topics, the NBER, with support from the National Science Foundation (Grant #2144769), will convene a one-day research conference on Friday, September 25, 2026, in Cambridge, MA. The conference will be organized by Yueran Ma of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. 

Researchers are invited to submit papers that address questions about the inter-connections between firms and technology, including but not limited to:

  • Technology adoption and diffusion across firms and industries
  • Intangible capital, R&D investment, and innovation
  • The effects of new technologies on firm dynamics, entry, and exit
  • Artificial intelligence and automation in firms
  • Causes and consequences of changing market structure and production concentration
  • Firm organization, management, and the deployment of new technologies
  • The financing of technology and firm investment
  • Implications for productivity and growth at the firm, industry, or aggregate level

To be considered for presentation, complete papers or detailed abstracts that include the question being studied, the plan of analysis, and the data that will be used must be uploaded by 11:59pm (EDT) on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. via the following link: 

Submit complete papers or detailed abstracts

Please feel free to share this call for papers widely with any researchers who might be working on projects that are suitable for presentation. 

Please do not submit papers that have been accepted for publication and will be published by September 2026, and be aware that NBER papers may not make policy recommendations or offer normative judgements on policy. Authors chosen to present papers will be notified in mid-August. The NBER will cover hotel and economy-class conference travel for one author per paper. Questions about this conference may be addressed to confer@nber.org.