What is the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)?

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that studies the economy.

How Does the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Work?

Founded in 1920, the NBER undertakes and distributes unbiased economic research to public policymakers, business professionals and the academic community. In its youth, the organization focused on macroeconomic research and business cycles. The NBER's primary offices are in Cambridge, Mass., though it also has an office in New York City.

The organization focuses on four kinds of research today: developing new statistical measurements, creating models of economic behavior, evaluating the economic effects of public policies and predicting the outcomes of proposed policies.

The NBER has a board of directors that includes economists, academics and researchers from universities and other organizations.

Why Does the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Matter?

The talent at the NBER has produced economic research so significant that it has created more than 20 Nobel Prize winners. According to the organization, 13 past chairs of the President's Council of Economic Advisors have been NBER researchers.