National Bureau of Economic Research

What National Bureau of Economic Research does

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan economic research organization headquartered at 1050 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1920 by Wesley Clair Mitchell and operating continuously for over a century. Its functional role is to coordinate and disseminate economic research conducted by more than 1,000 affiliated scholars drawn from major universities worldwide, organized across 19 research programs and multiple specialized working groups spanning areas such as Public Economics, Corporate Finance, Asset Pricing, Labor Studies, Monetary Economics, and Development Economics. NBER's primary outputs are working papers, books and chapters published through a partnership with the University of Chicago Press, and a portfolio of periodicals including The Digest, The NBER Reporter, and topical bulletins covering Health, Retirement and Disability, Entrepreneurship, and Aging and Health. Complementary offerings include the Boston Research Data Center and Public Use Data Archive, the NBER Videos library, the annual Summer Institute conference series, and the official U.S. Business Cycle Dating Committee function.

NBER is funded almost entirely through grants from federal agencies — principally the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Aging, and the Social Security Administration (which cooperative-agreement-funds the Retirement and Disability Research Center) — alongside private foundations including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. Documented grant awards include a recurring Sloan Foundation award of $1.09M–$1.26M in 2011, 2015, and 2023. Research outputs are distributed freely on nber.org, supplemented by institutional subscriptions and email notification services via the MyNBER system; pricing for institutional access is not publicly disclosed. The organization serves three primary constituencies: academic researchers and university faculty, federal and state government policymakers, and business professionals and analysts, and it collaborates internationally with central banks (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Bank of England, Deutsche Bundesbank), the Indian School of Business, Harvard Business School, and others.

Operationally, NBER runs with 501–1,000 staff, is governed by a Board of Directors with James Poterba as President, and continues to expand its topical coverage (recent additions include an Economics of Digitization initiative, an Economic Measurement Research Institute, and a Bulletin on the Economics of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias). A March 2026 governance action — termination of Lawrence Summers' research-associate affiliation following an ad hoc committee review tied to his connections with Jeffrey Epstein — underscored the organization's stated Standards of Conduct and Conference Code of Conduct. NBER holds no parent company, is not publicly traded, has no subsidiaries, and operates as the de facto arbiter of U.S. business cycle dates through its Business Cycle Dating Committee.

Name

National Bureau of Economic Research

Legal name

National Bureau of Economic Research

Website

https://nber.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1920

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

The National Bureau of Economic Research is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan economic research organization founded in 1920 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It coordinates over 1,000 affiliated scholars across 19 research programs, disseminating working papers, books, periodicals, and data services to academia, government policymakers, and business professionals worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Economic Research

NAICS

Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Periodical Publishers (513120), Business Associations (813910), Other Similar Organizations (except Business, Professional, Labor, and Political Organizations) (81399)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Think Tanks, Policy Research & Public Policy Institutes (BPAGAFAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE), Business, Economics & Management Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAF), Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK), Conference Proceedings & Research Reports Publishing (EDAGAFAL)

Keywords

• Economic research
• Working papers
• Business cycle dating
• Economic policy analysis
• Academic publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NBER conducts and disseminates nonpartisan economic research through a portfolio of working papers, books and chapters, periodicals (The Digest, The Reporter, and topic-specific Bulletins), conference programs, and data services. It also maintains the Business Cycle Dating Committee, which officially dates U.S. economic expansions and recessions. The organization supports a network of affiliated research associates organized into 19 programmatic areas and multiple working groups covering economics of aging, asset pricing, corporate finance, labor studies, monetary economics, public economics, and other fields.

Product overview

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a nonpartisan economic research organization that operates as a publishing and conference platform rather than a software product company. Its core offering consists of research dissemination through Working Papers, Books & Chapters published with the University of Chicago Press, and periodical publications including The Digest, The NBER Reporter, and specialized Bulletins covering Health, Retirement & Disability, Entrepreneurship, and Aging & Health. The organization supports its research mission through data services (Boston Research Data Center, Public Use Data Archive), video content of conference proceedings, and annual conferences such as Summer Institute. NBER organizes research through 19 programmatic areas and multiple working groups covering specialized economic topics. Users can subscribe to email notifications for new research in their areas of interest through the MyNBER system.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• NBER Working Papers: The organization's flagship research publication series featuring economic research papers
• The NBER Digest
• The NBER Reporter
• NBER Retirement and Disability Research Center (RDRC)
• NBER Summer Institute
• NBER Business Cycle Dating

Products and services

• Working Papers

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Indian School of Business (ISB)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 December 2025ISB and NBER co-hosted an annual conference on 'Household Finance across the Lifecycle' at ISB's Hyderabad campus. The two-day event gathered leading economists and academics to discuss topics including household consumption, savings behavior, inflation's impact on portfolio rebalancing, home loan disparities, and insurance in financial stability. Notable speakers included Raghuram Rajan, former RBI Governor, and Viral V. Acharya, former RBI Deputy Governor.
• Social Security AdministrationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNBER operates the Retirement and Disability Research Center (RDRC) as one of six centers funded by cooperative agreement with the Social Security Administration as part of its Retirement and Disability Research Consortium. The consortium fosters research on retirement and disability policy matters and strengthens SSA's capacity for research, evaluation, and policy development.
• National Science FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNBER researchers receive grant funding from the National Science Foundation for various research projects including spatial economics, technology transfer studies, and economic measurement research. Multiple NBER projects are supported by NSF grants.
• National Institute on AgingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNBER receives funding from the National Institute on Aging for research on aging, health economics, and longevity. Projects include studies on life expectancy, health insurance and mortality, and Alzheimer's disease economics.
• Federal Reserve Bank of AtlantamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFederal Reserve Bank of Atlanta co-sponsored research studies including the NBER Working Paper on AI productivity impacts among nearly 6,000 executives across multiple countries.
• Bank of EnglandmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBank of England co-sponsored research including studies on AI productivity and economic forecasting conducted by NBER researchers.
• Deutsche BundesbankmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeutsche Bundesbank co-sponsored research on AI productivity impacts and economic analysis conducted by NBER researchers.
• University of Chicago PresscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNBER partners with University of Chicago Press to publish proceedings of annual conferences and research studies as books and book chapters, extending the reach and academic credibility of NBER research outputs.
• Boston Research Data CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNBER operates the Boston Research Data Center providing secure access to restricted economic data for authorized researchers, enabling advanced economic analysis using sensitive government datasets.
• Harvard Business SchoolmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNBER collaborates with Harvard Business School researchers on studies including AI stock trading research published through the NBER working paper series.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Brookings Institution: One of the oldest U.S. policy think tanks, conducting nonpartisan research across economic, foreign policy, and domestic policy topics. Highly comparable as a large, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization serving policymakers and the public.
• RAND Corporation: Nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution with a comparable mix of scholarly research dissemination, policy analysis, and government contracts. Similar operating model with multiple research programs spanning economics, health, and security.
• Peterson Institute for International Economics: Private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution focused exclusively on international economics. Closely comparable to NBER on academic rigor, working paper publication model, and policy influence in macroeconomic research.
• Cato Institute: Public policy research organization producing working papers, policy analyses, and reports. Comparable in scale and dissemination model, though ideologically positioned (whereas NBER is explicitly nonpartisan).
• American Enterprise Institute: Nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research community covering economics, politics, and social policy. Comparable as a think tank producing scholarly working papers and policy briefs aimed at policymakers.
• Hoover Institution: Stanford-based public policy research center producing books, working papers, and conferences on economics and political economy. Comparable in scale, academic affiliation model, and policy dissemination channels.
• Urban Institute: Nonprofit research organization focused on economic and social policy, with deep partnerships with government funders. Comparable operating model, grant reliance, and policy-focused dissemination.
• Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR): European-based nonprofit that organizes research networks and disseminates working papers across economics. Highly comparable as a hub for affiliated scholars and policy-relevant economics research.
• IZA (Institute of Labor Economics): Private, independent German-based research institute focused on labor economics. Comparable as a nonprofit that distributes working papers through a large affiliated scholar network, though narrower in topical focus.

Broad incumbents

• The Conference Board: Member-based business research organization producing economic indicators, forecasts, and analyses. Comparable in mission of providing authoritative economic data and analysis, but with a broader business-membership orientation rather than academic-affiliate model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nberpubs
• YouTubeyoutube.com/nbervideos
• Facebookfacebook.com/National-Bureau-of-Economic-Resear
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/national-bureau-of-economic-research

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about National Bureau of Economic Research