Solow, Robert Merton (1924-2023), was an American economist known for his contributions to the theory of economic growth. In his book Growth Theory: An Exposition (1970), Solow explained the relationship between the different resources necessary for economic production. These resources include labor, technology, and such productive goods as buildings and machinery. He concluded that advances in technology stimulate growth more than increases in the other resources do. Solow won the 1987 Nobel Prize in economics for his research on economic growth.
Solow wrote on many aspects of economics besides growth, including the distribution of income and the theory of capital. His other books include Capital Theory and the Rate of Return (1963) and The Sources of Unemployment in the United States (1964). Solow received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the country’s highest civilian honors, in 2014.
Solow was born on Aug. 23, 1924, in New York City. He graduated from Harvard University and earned a Ph.D. degree there. Solow joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949. He died on Dec. 21, 2023.
