Edward F. Denison
The Brookings Institution
December 18, 1915 - October 24, 1992
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Scientific Discipline: Economic Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1985)
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Edward F. Denison’s work on the measurement of economic growth was a significant factor in the improvement of American economic research. His work refined the measurement of America’s official national income, as well as the gross national product. In 1962, he published the first of his groundbreaking papers (entitled “The Sources of Economic Growth”) in which he developed a stable framework of accounting and measuring for various sources of economic growth such as improved education of the labor force or new advances in science and technology. He was one of the first economists to recognize education as a major source of economic growth.
Denison received his AB from Oberlin College in 1936, his AM in 1938 and PhD in 1941 from Brown University, and he graduated from the National War College in 1951. After receiving his PhD, he accepted a position as an economist at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and he was appointed the acting chief of the National Income Division in 1947. He left in 1956 to become an associate director for a private business organization called the Committee for Economic Development. Denison began researching economic growth during this time, and continued his studies as a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution from 1963 until 1978. In 1979, he became the associate director for National Economic Accounts at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and he stayed there until his retirement from government work in 1982. Denison was affiliated with a large number of organizations, including the American Economic Association, the American Statistical Association, and the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth.
