NBER Launches Initiative on Economic Measurement

Recognizing the challenges to traditional approaches to economic measurement—among others, declining survey response rates, the growing economic significance of hard-to-measure digital services, and the rise of the gig economy—the NBER has launched a new initiative on economic statistics. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the NBER a multi-year grant to promote research on economic measurement as well as the development and implementation of new approaches to the creation of official economic statistics. The Economic Measurement Research Institute (EMRI) is co-directed by research associates Katharine Abraham of the University of Maryland and Matthew Shapiro of the University of Michigan. Its goal is to support research on methods of data collection, construction and dissemination that can advance the measurement of the 21st century economy, including the effects of fundamental changes in technology on the structure and performance of the US economy. The EMRI will fund research projects in response to an annual call for proposals. 

A closely related project on Advancing Economic Measurement, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and directed by research associate Karen Dynan of Harvard University, will also promote innovative approaches to creating economic statistics. Working in coordination with the EMRI, it will host a series of conferences highlighting how private-sector data resources—such as financial transactions, payroll records, and information from on-line marketplaces—can be used to improve measures of aggregate economic activity and other key indicators.