The Brookings Panel on Economic Activity aims to focus macroeconomic research on problems confronting the U.S. economy. The Panel strives to fulfill this purpose by generating, discussing, and publishing high quality, relevant and timely research of macroeconomic significance. Its first commitment is to produce quality research, and the Panel's method of operation is designed with that goal foremost in mind. Its published research undergoes a much more intensive process of review, criticism, discussion and editing than conventional journals can provide. In this process and in the selection of topics and authors, the directors of the Panel are aided by the Panel Advisers, a group of experts spanning a broad range of philosophical views and methodological preferences. The Panel does not pursue highly abstract and purely theoretical modeling of economic relationships which cannot be treated against data and actual experience. But subject to that constraint, its notion of relevance is broad. It includes research to explore fundamental characteristics of the economy and how it responds to policy, as well as more applied research aimed at clarifying and quantifying economic relations. In recent years, Panel research has increasingly explored topics related to trade, exchange rates, and financial markets as well as inflation, unemployment growth, interest rates, and the conduct of fiscal and monetary policies. Panel topics have anticipated the recent interest in supply effects through papers on investment, productivity, saving, labor supply, and the effects of taxes and other policy measures on them. Funding for this conference series should be renewed because of the high quality, timely research it generates on macroeconomic policy. One indicator of the success of the Brookings Panel is the impact of the journal that publishes the conference proceedings. A recent study found that the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity ranked second out of 108 journals in impact adjusted citations per article. Impact adjustment was done by counting a citation in a high-ranked journal more than a citation in a low-ranked journal. Controls were also employed for journal size and age.
