Robert Summers Fellowships on Economic Measurement
To promote research on economic measurement and to strengthen ties between the academic and practitioner communities working in this area, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth (CRIW) will sponsor six fellowships for economic statisticians working in or with government statistical agencies and international organizations to attend the CRIW meeting on July 20–21, 2026 in Cambridge, MA. Fellows will participate in the research meeting and have an opportunity to interact with leading scholars and practitioners who are attending the NBER Summer Institute. This fellowship program celebrates the intellectual legacy of long-time CRIW member and University of Pennsylvania faculty member Robert Summers (1922–2012), who pioneered the study of international price and output comparisons.
The fellowship covers economy-class travel costs for attending the research meeting, hotel accommodation for up to three nights and other conference-related costs. Reimbursements will be subject to NBER’s travel policies.
To be eligible for fellowship support, applicants must have expertise in economic measurement and be employed at, or working in close collaboration with, a statistical agency or another organization, such as the OECD or IMF, which is engaged in the creation and dissemination of economic statistics. Fellows may work on any aspect of measurement, but there will be a preference for those engaged in the design and construction of international comparative data. Applications from economic statisticians working outside North America are welcome. Please share this call for applications with anyone who might be interested in this fellowship program.
To apply, applicants should prepare a single PDF file with (1) a cover page including name, email address, and current affiliation; and (2) a two-page summary of relevant expertise and current research interests in economic measurement. The summary should include references to published papers and working papers, with links where appropriate, as well as information on novel data products and other pertinent information. Please upload application files via the link below no later than 11:59 pm ET on Monday, May 18, 2026. Applications that are not complete by that time will not be considered.
The fellowship selection committee, consisting of Karen Dynan (Harvard University), Carol Corrado (Georgetown University), and James Poterba (MIT), will notify successful applicants by late May.