Robert Solow

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Lore & Background

Robert Solow was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family on August 23, 1924, the oldest of three children. He attended local public school and excelled academically early in life. In September 1940, Solow went to Harvard College with a scholarship at the age of 16. At Harvard, his first studies were in sociology and anthropology as well as elementary economics. In 1942, Solow left the university and joined the U.S. Army where he served in the Signal Corps. Because he was fluent in German, the Army put him on a task force whose primary purpose was to intercept, interpret, and send back German messages to base. He served briefly in North Africa and Sicily, and later in Italy until he was discharged in August 1945. Shortly after returning, he proceeded to marry his girlfriend, Barbara Lewis (died 2014), whom he had been dating for six weeks. Solow returned to Harvard in 1945 and studied under Wassily Leontief, serving as his research assistant and producing the first set of capital-coefficients for the input–output model. This work introduced him to linear modeling and quantitative analysis. From 1949 to 1950, he spent a fellowship year at Columbia University to study statistics more intensively while completing his Ph.D. thesis, an exploratory examination of changes in the wage-income distribution using interacting Markov processes. Although the dissertation won Harvard’s Wells Prize, Solow opted not to publish it. In 1949, just before going off to Columbia, he was offered and accepted an assistant professorship in the Economics Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT he taught courses in statistics and econometrics. For almost 40 years, Solow and Paul Samuelson worked together on many landmark theories: von Neumann growth theory (1953), theory of capital (1956), linear programming (1958) and the Phillips curve (1960).

Reader's Guide

Robert Solow's significance lies in his foundational contributions to the theory of economic growth. His Solow–Swan neoclassical growth model allowed the determinants of economic growth to be separated into increases in inputs (labour and capital) and technical progress. Using his model, Solow (1957) calculated that about four-fifths of the growth in US output per worker was attributable to technical progress. He also was the first to develop a growth model with different vintages of capital, arguing that new capital is more valuable than old capital because new capital is produced through known technology. His work influenced subsequent research, including the development of endogenous growth theory by Paul Romer and Robert Lucas, Jr. Solow's legacy also includes his role as a teacher: four of his PhD students—George Akerlof, Joseph Stiglitz, Peter Diamond, and William Nordhaus—later received Nobel Memorial Prizes in Economic Sciences. He held several government positions, including senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisers (1961–62) and member of the President's Commission on Income Maintenance (1968–70). He was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal in 1961, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1987, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. In 1974, Solow helped found the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC), a trailblazing organization in randomized evaluations of labor market programs. Solow was interviewed for a 1994 on journal rejections by leading economists where he noted that he had never had a journal article rejected. He added, 'Probably this is because I hate writing articles.'

Did You Know?

• Solow entered Harvard College with a scholarship at age 16 in September 1940.
• He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWII, intercepting German messages because he was fluent in German.
• Solow married his girlfriend Barbara Lewis after dating her for only six weeks; she died in 2014.
• His Ph.D. dissertation won Harvard’s Wells Prize, but he opted not to publish it.
• Solow once said he had never had a journal article rejected, adding, 'Probably this is because I hate writing articles.'