Solow, Robert M(erton)

born Aug. 23, 1924, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.

U.S. economist.

He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and began teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949. Solow developed a mathematical model that could show the relative contributions of various factors to sustained national economic growth. He demonstrated that, contrary to traditional economic thinking, the rate of technological progress is more important to growth than capital accumulation or increases in labour. From the 1960s on, his studies were influential in persuading governments to invest in technological research and development. In 1987 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

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