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Research Papers in Economics

This PDF is a selection from an out-of-print volume from the National Bureau of Economic
Research
Volume Title: Research Priorities Amidst Changing Economic and Social Values
Volume Author/Editor: NBER
Volume Publisher: NBER
Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/unkn76-3
Publication Date: 1976
Chapter Title: Organization and Finances
Chapter Author: Various
Chapter URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c4208
Chapter pages in book: (p. 107 - 110)III
Organization and Finances
Directors and Officers
The Board of Directors held two meetings dur-
ing the fiscal year to consider and act upon de-
velopments in the research program and the
operation, staffing, and financing of the National
Bureau. The annual meeting was held in Wash-
ington, D.C. on September 26, 1975. A special
meeting was held on April 23, 1976, in Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts. The Board's Executive
Committee also met twice to take action on re-
searchproposals,staffappointments,and
budgets, within the general policies established
by the Board.
At the annual meeting, three new Directors
were elected. Edward L. Ginzton, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of Varian Associates,
became a Director at Large. Richard M. Bird
became Director by Appointment of the Cana-
dian Economic Association, succeeding Robert
M. Will, and Carl F. Christ succeeded Willard L.
Thorp as Director by Appointment of the Ameri-
can Economic Association.
Mr. Thorp, who had served many years on
the research staff beginning in 1923 and who
had been a member of the Board of Directors
since 1956, became a Director Emeritus.
The Bureau lost two Directors at Large. Alice
M. Rivlin, Director of the Congressional Budget
Office, resigned from the Board in late Septem-
ber 1975. Vivian W. Henderson, President of
Clark College, died on JanUary 28, 1976. Also
Nathaniel Goldfinger, who had served since
1963 as Director by Appointment of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor and Congress ot Indus-
trial Organizations, died on July 22, 1976.
Irving Forman who joined the staff in 1929 and
became the National Bureau's chartist died on
July 24, 1976. Although he had retired from
regular employment he had continued to serve
in a consulting capacity.
At the annual meeting, recommendations by
the President for changes in the organizational
structure of the Bureau's administration and in
107
titles of some officers were endorsed by the
Committee on Management Development and
Compensation and approved by the Board. The
following officers were elected for the ensuing
year:ArthurF.Burns,Honorary Chairman;
J. Wilson Newman, Chairman; Moses Abramo-
vitz, Vice Chairman; John R. Meyer, President;
Thomas D. Flynn, Treasurer; Harvey McMains,
Vice President—ExecutiveDirector;VictorR.
Fuchs, Vice President, Co-Director NBER-West
and Director, Center for Economic Analysis of
Human Behavior and Social Institutions; Edwin
Kuh, Vice President, Director, Computer Re-
search Center; Douglas H. Eldridge, Executive
Secretary; Gary Fromm, Director, Special
Studies; Robert E. Lipsey, Director of Interna-
tional and Financial Studies; Sherman J. Maisel,
Co-Director, NBER-West; Geoffrey H. Moore,
Director, Business Cycle Research; Edward K.
Smith, Director, Corporate Planning and Devel-
opment and Director, NBER-Washington; Char-
lotte Boschan, Director, Data Services; Warren
Lackstrom, Assistant Vice President-Operations;
Sam Parker, Assistant Treasurer and Controller;
Robert 1. Michael, Associate Director, Center for
Economic Analysis of Human Behavior and
SocialInstitutions;RichardHilland Gerald
Ruderman, Assistant Directors, Computer Re-
search Center.
Following the annual meeting, the President
established a Senior Staff Policy Committee
comprised of himself and the three Vice Presi-
dents, and with Warren Lackstrom serving as
secretary. This committee undertook a general
review of the Bureau's overall research program.
Mr. Lackstrom resigned from the staff as of
April 30, 1976. He was succeeded as Executive
Secretary of the Senior Staff Policy Committee
by Joel Popkin, effective July 1, 1976. At the
same time Mr. Popkin assumed responsibility
as Director of the Washington, D.C. office of the
Bureau.
At the spring meeting of the Board, PresidentMeyer announced that he had advised the Com-
mittee on Management Development and Com-
pensation that he believed there should be a
turnover in his position as President after ap-
proximately ten years of service. He suggested
that plans be made for his phasing out as Presi-
dent no later than the end of the next annual
term which would end with the annual meeting
of the Board of Directors in September 1977. A
subcommittee of the Committee on Manage-
ment Development and Compensation was ap-
pointed as a Screening Committee to undertake
the initial steps of search and selection of a can-
didate to be President Meyer's successor. The
subcommittee, comprised of Messrs. Abramo-
vitz (Chairman), Heller, Shapiro, and Yntema,
was charged to make a report and recommen-
dation to the full Committee and that Committee
in turn would make a report and recommenda-
tion to the Board of Directors.
Douglas H. Eld ridge
Finances and Sources of Support
During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1976, ex-
penditures for the National Bureau's program of
research, conferences, publications, and related
activities were approximately $5.6 million. In-
come totaled about $5.3 million, leaving a cur-
rent operating deficit of about $275 thousand,1
which was financed by drawing on the principal
of the National Bureau's sustaining funds.
The National Bureau's current income is of
two general types, restricted and unrestricted.
Restricted income is derived from grants or con-
tracts for whole or partial support of particular
research projects in accordance with specific
terms.Unrestricted incomeiscomprised of
revenues that are available for general program
support and that are allocable by the Bureau to
individual projects and activities as deemed ap-
propriate by the administration and the Board of
Directors.
In fiscal 1976, 71 percent of total income was
obtained from restricted fund grants or con-
1. These are preliminary, preaudit figures. When this
Annual Report was sent to press, the books of account had
just been closed and the audit for the fiscal year had not
been completed. In late September 1976, detaNed financial
statements, with a report of independent certified public
accountants, will be available from the National Bureau on
request.
108
tracts. Sources of restricted support for projects
discussed in the staff reports in the present
volume included the following:
American Association of Advertising Agen-
cies, Educational Foundation—marketing and
advertisingstudies; concentration and profit
rates.
American Bar Foundation—law and eco-
nomics program.
American Enterprise Institute—interna-
tional economic indicators.
Ford Foundation—population and family
economics.
Hoover lnstitution—business cycles and
economic indicators.
IBM World Trade Corporation—Latin Amer-
ican research, conference program, and com-
puter workshops.
Investment Company Institute—individual
investor portfolio performance.
Japan Society, Basin trade
conference.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation—Human
Behavior and Social Institutions Center program
in the economics of health.
NationalEconomistsClubEducational
Foundation—public forum in economic issues.
Rockefeller Foundation—Human Behavior
and Social Institutions Center studies of educa-
tion and income distribution; research fellow-
ship program for scholars from developing
countries.
Scherman Foundation—money,financial
flows, and credit in the Soviet Union.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation—research fel-
lowships.
Alex C. Walker Educational and Charitable
Foundation—monetary trends.
United States Government
Agency forInternational Development—
foreign trade regimes and economic develop-
ment; alternative trade strategies and employ-
ment.
Council on Wage and Price Stability—
wholesale price index study; inflation study.
Department of Commerce: (1) Bureau of
the Census—measurement of business inven-
tories;seasonal analysisof economic time
series; (2) Bureau of Economic Analysis—cycli-cal indicators; (3) Office of Competitive Assess-
ment—international economic indicators; price-
quantity relations in U.S. trade; (4) Economic
Development Administration—analysis of Fed-
eral economic development programs; model-
ing the differential incidence of Federal tax,
transfer and expenditure policy (IDIOM),
Environmental Protection Agency—short-
run costs of water pollution abatement; air pol-
lution and health.
Department of Health, Education and Wel-
fare: (1) National Center for Health Services Re-
search—economics of health; (2) National Insti-
tute of Child Health and Human Development—
population and family economics.
Department of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment—NBER urban simulation model.
Department of Labor—earnings and in-
come distribution; foreign influences on input
costs and manufacturing prices; studies of mul-
tinational firms.
National Commission on Water Quality—
water quality study.
National Science Foundation—inflation
study; research and development and firm pro-
ductivity; evaluation of forecasting performance
of econometric models; measurement of eco-
nomic and social performance; law and eco-
nomics program; earning and income distribu-
tion;risks and capital adequacy infinancial
institutions; financial flows and economic activ-
ity;effects of product qualityregulation on
innovation: industrial demand for energy; multi-
national firms' technology and trade flows; U.S.-
U.S.S.R. scientific and technical program of
cooperation; projects of the NBER Computer
Research Center; Alaska model for Man in the
Arctic Program; several conference and work-
shop programs.
Department of the Treasury—economics of
taxation and social insurance; location of over-
seas manufacturing operations of multinational
firms.
Several business firms made special contri-
butions for the support of the International Eco-
nomic Indicators Project.
The National Bureau's unrestricted income in
fiscal 1976 was about $1.5 million or 29 percent
of total income. A general program support
grant from the Scherman Foundation and the
109
annual contributions of business firms, banks,
labor organizations,libraries and individuals
provided about 11 percent of total income. In-
terest and dividends from the investment of sus-
taining funds amounted to somewhat more than
9 percent of total income, and more than 8 per-
cent of total income was received from sales of
publications and statistical materials and serv-
ices.
The National Bureau was fortunate to have the
help of a Development Committee comprised of
leaders in the business and financial communi-
ties who sought to maintain and increase the
level of unrestricted income from the contribu-
tions of business firms and others. During 1976
James J. O'Leary, Vice Chairman, United States
Trust Company of New York, served as Chair-
man of the Development Committee. Robert V.
Roosa, Partner, Brown Brothers, Harriman &
Company, was Vice Chairman. Other Develop-
ment Committee members were:
James S. Bingay, President
The Mutual Life Insurance Company of
New York
Thornton F. Bradshaw, President
Atlantic Richfield Company
W. Graham Claytor, Jr., President
Southern Railway System
W. J. De Lancey
President and Chief Executive
Republic Steel Corporation
James L. Ferguson
Chairman and President
General Foods Corporation
Thomas D. Flynn
Arthur Young and Company
Edward L. Ginzton, Chairman
Varian Associates
Gabriel Hauge, Chairman
Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company
John W. Larsen, President
The Bowery Savings Bank
Gustave L. Levy, Partner
Goldman, Sachs & Co.Gerard Piel, Publisher men and others are important for the National
Scientific American Bureau's program.Unrestrictedincome,al-
though less than one third of the total, is a criti-
Eli Shapiro cal factor for independent, objective and inno-
Chairman, Finance Committee vative studies.Itis used for the initiation and
The Travelers Corporation development of research proposals, for cost
G. RobertTruex,Jr. sharing on projects for which restricted funds
President and Chief Executive provide only partial support, and for costs of
Rainier National Bank publications and dissemination of results not
covered by restricted grants. Several projects
H. R. Weckerley approved by the Board of Directors are sup-
Senior Vice President, Finance ported, at least from time to time, entirely from
American Can Company unrestricted funds. Members of the Develop-
ment Committee deserve much credit for broad-
F. Perry Wilson
Chairman and Chief Executive ening understanding of the significance of the
Bureau's program and of the importance of sup-
Union Carbide Corporation
port from the general public as well as from
The efforts of the Development Committee in philanthropicfoundationsandgovernment
enlisting the interest and support of business- agencies.
Douglas H. Eld ridge
110

Research Priorities Amidst Changing Economic and Social Values

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Research Papers in Economics