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Robert Merton Solow, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., Aug. 23, 1924, was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize for economics for contributing to a new understanding of the mechanics of economic growth. The Nobel Prize committee cited Solow for his empirical studies, which emphasized the importance of research and technological innovation in improving economic productivity. After serving with the Army Signal Corps during World War II, Solow majored in economics and earned a bachelor's degree at Harvard University (1947), and then his doctorate (1951). He has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1949. Solow served on President John F. Kennedy's Council of Economic Advisors during the early 1960s and was president of the American Economic Association in 1979. His books include Capital Theory and the Rate of Return (1963), The Sources of Unemployment in the United States (1964), and The Labor Market As Social Institution (1990).