The 1950s: Economic Development

1950s: Economic Development

1950s: Economic Development

"In economics, the problems of the growth of nations have been lying dormant practically since the middle of the nineteenth century."


Simon Kuznets, Chair, SSRC Committee on Economic Growth

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Simon Kuznets

In 1949, the Council established a Committee on Economic Growth, led by University of Pennsylvania economist Simon Kuznets and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Committee mobilized global cross-country research on the conditions enabling economic growth, including sanitation, effective medicines, education, technological innovation, natural resources, and effective political institutions.




Citing his work with the SSRC, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences to Kuznets in 1971:

“…for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which has led to a new and deepened insight into the economic and social structure and process of development."

In the last 100 years social and behavioral scientists have made substantial progress in identifying interventions that support the conditions necessary for economic growth.

Children who receive an inexpensive anti-parasite pill have greater success in school, and twenty years later are earning more, consuming more, and have children with lower mortality rates, compared to those who did not receive the childhood medication.

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Distributing anti-malarial insecticide-treated bed nets free of cost—eliminating even small fees—significantly increases their use, decreasing child mortality.

World Water Day, Mozambique

These findings from social and behavioral science have led to hundreds of millions of dollars directed to effective initiatives to support sustainable social and economic development.




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What other notable contributions have been made by social and behavioral science to identifying solutions to pressing societal challenges?

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What other notable contributions have been made by social and behavioral science to identifying solutions to pressing societal challenges?

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The Social Science Research Council, a nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1923 by seven professional associations in the social and behavioral sciences, mobilizes policy-relevant social and behavioral science for the public good.