_____________________________________________
TOWARD A FIRMER BASIS
OF ECONOMIC POLICY:
THE FOUNDING OF
THE NATIONAL BUREAU
OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
Solomon Fabricant*
1984
*Solomon Fabricant was an NBER Research Associate Emeritus at the time of his death in
1989. Born in Brooklyn in 1906, he received bachelors degrees from New York University and City
College. In 1930, he received a master’s degree in economics from Columbia University and joined the
NBER’s staff as a research assistant. After receiving his Ph. D. from Columbia in 1938, he began
teaching at New York University, where he became a full professor in 1948. Fabricant also served as
the NBER’s Director of Research from 1953 to 1965. He joined the NBER’s Board of Directors in
1955 and became a director emeritus in 1981. During his 50-year association with the NBER, he
produced research on such topics as manufacturing output and employment, business cycles,
government employment, and productivity change.