The papers of Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert M. Solow span the years 1951-2011 and document his professional, scholarly, and academic work. The majority of the collection consists of voluminous files of correspondence (1960-2011) with students, colleagues, and other economists, and it includes his reviews of papers by other scholars, referee reports, letters of recommendation articles for the public, professional correspondence as well as policy recommendations. The papers also contain lecture notes for courses Solow taught at MIT (1972-1996); published papers by Solow on macroeconomics, growth theory, linear programming, and other topics (1950-2011); and files from economic, academic, and governmental organizations in which he served, including the American Economics Association, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. The published papers series also contains notes and rough drafts on topics such as econometrics, employment (specifically the theory of unemployment) and growth policies, macroeconomics, and the theory of capital. There is also some material on the Neo-classical Growth Model, also known as the Solow-Swan Growth Model (1956).
The largest series in the collection, the Correspondence Series is subdivided into three groups: Chronological Correspondence, Alphabetical Correspondence, and Recommendations. The first two consist of correspondence from students, colleagues, and collaborators, with some responses from Solow included. The exchanges include economists such as Kenneth Arrow, Olivier Blanchard, Alan Blinder, Partha Dasgupta, Frank Hahn, Paul Samuelson, and James Tobin. The alphabetical correspondence dating from 1951-1976, is similar in content to the chronological correspondence but smaller in size; it also contains more pieces related to organizations and businesses. The Alphabetical Correspondence (Recommendations) dating from 1971-1986, is the smallest of the three and consists of requests for and the subsequent letters of recommendation from Solow for either students or professional economists.
The Teaching Materials Series houses the teaching materials generated from Solow's MIT economics courses (spanning an approximate 30 years of his 40 year MIT career) as well as the notes and materials used for lectures given at other forums and institutions. These materials consist of reading lists, syllabi, outlines, exams, problem sets and their solutions, homework, waivers, attendance rosters, assignments, spiral notebooks of economic equations, and personal preparatory notes handwritten by Solow.
Nearly all of Solow's major publications and co-publications (see bibliography for the few exceptions) are found in the Published Papers and Writings Series . These include his Ph.D. thesis, speeches, lectures, invited lectures, panel discussions, op-ed pieces, journal articles, brochures, pamphlets, reviews of his works and his responses to the reviews, Congressional testimony, and memorial tributes, as well as the rough drafts and notes for these documents.
The Professional Service Series includes varied documents associated with the groups Robert Solow was either a member of, held a position in, wrote pieces for, or supported. Files contain correspondence, meeting minutes, proposals, reports, publications, votes, elections, and financial reports. The largest organizations represented in this series are the American Economic Association and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
Four videos featuring Solow are collected in the Audio Visual Series . Materials date from 2003 to 2009. Within the series, one item is recorded on a VHS cassette and the rest are in DVD format.
