The NBER Reporter 2012 Number 3: News

Anna Schwartz, an NBER Research Associate in the Monetary Economics Program, and the NBER's longest serving researcher, passed away on June 21 at the age of 96. Anna, who joined the NBER in 1941, was best known for her collaboration with Milton Friedman on A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 (published in 1963). This study was a landmark contribution in the analysis of the links between monetary policy and aggregate economic activity. She was also the author or co-author of many other influential books and papers, including three working papers in the last two years. Schwartz was a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, and the recipient of nine honorary degrees.

Schwartz did her undergraduate work at Barnard College, graduating at the age of 18, and received her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Before joining the NBER, she worked for several years at the USDA and at the Social Science Research Foundation.

Anna Schwartz was a very active contributor to the intellectual life of the NBER and the economics profession, and she will be deeply missed. An interview with her conducted by Claudia Goldin several years ago is posted on the NBER's website in the "oral histories" library: http://www.nber.org/nberhistory/oralhistories2.html

Paul McCracken, an emeritus member and former Chair of the NBER's Board of Directors, passed away on August 3, 2012 at the age of 96. He was first elected to the NBER's Board of Directors in 1974 as the representative of the American Statistical Association, and was subsequently elected as the representative from the University of Michigan, and then as an at-large member of the board. McCracken served as Vice-Chair of the NBER's Board of Directors between 1988 and 1992 and as Board Chair from 1993 until 1996. At the time of his death, McCracken was the Edmund Ezra Day Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration, Economics, and Public Policy (Emeritus) at the University of Michigan, where he served on the faculty for over sixty years. In addition to his academic career, he was a distinguished public servant, having served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers in the late 1950s and chaired the Council between 1969 and 1971.

The NBER hosted its 35th annual Summer Institute during a three-week period in July. With more than 2100 participants, nearly 500 of whom were attending the NBER Summer Institute for the first time, this year's was one of the largest summer gatherings in NBER history.

NBER Research Associate Steven N. Kaplan of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business delivered the Martin Feldstein lecture on the topic of "Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance in the U.S."

NBER Research Associates Aviv Nevo of Northwestern University and Ariel Pakes of Harvard University presented the "Econometrics Methods Lectures" on the topic "Methods for Demand Estimation." Their lectures, which spanned two days and have been recorded and posted on the NBER website at: http://www.nber.org/econometrics_minicourse_2012

As in past years, the 2012 Summer Institute drew participants from a wide range of institutions – more than 380 different colleges, universities, and research institutes were represented – and spanned a wide range of research topics. There were more than 475 research presentations, organized into 49 distinct research meetings. A full list of meetings and the papers presented may be found at: http://www.nber.org/confer/2012/SI2012/SI2012.html