Robert Solow's “Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function” (1957) has had an enduring influence on macroeconomics. In this article, we examine the history of fluctuations in growth theory through the story of the “Solow residual” as a “black box.” We show that after...

Two defining moments in the history of econometrics and in that of the Econometric Society are discussed in this essay. The first is the founding of the society and the initial skirmishes over the criteria for selecting its fellows, who were to represent the best practices of econometrics. The...