The NBER Summer Institute brings together economists from universities, government, and international organizations for a few days or a few weeks of seminars, workshops, conferences and collaborative research. Last year's Summer Institute included 435 economists from 124 universities and nonacademic institutions and a similar number is expected to attend this summer. Special efforts are made to include young economists. The Summer Institute is organized into seven programs: economic fluctuations, economic history, financial markets and monetary economics, international studies, labor studies, productivity, and taxation. Each program has its own group of participants and its own structure. Although there is considerable variation among the programs, a typical Summer Institute program will last for one to three weeks, with seminars each morning and afternoon devoted to individual research. Some programs conclude with a more formal conference. Programs may include a variety of subjects or they may be organized around specific topics. The Summer Institute provides a unique opportunity for economists to work closely with others in their areas of specialty for extended and gernerally intense periods of research. Although numerous conferences permit researchers few hours in which to exchange ideas, only NBER's Summer Institute lasts long enough to allow serious collaboration among economists from several institutions. While there are of course presentations of work nearing completion, emphasis is placed on the workshop aspects of the program, where new ideas are raised, preliminary research ideas are developed, and plans for joint or coordinated research efforts are established.
