---
title: UMD Researcher to Help Lead Effort to Overhaul How Nation Measures Economy
date: 2025-12-10T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/umd-researcher-to-help-lead-effort-to-overhaul-how-nation-measures-economy"
section: Articles
---
# UMD Researcher to Help Lead Effort to Overhaul How Nation Measures Economy

*December 10, 2025* — by [Laura Ours](/author/laura-ours)


> $7M NSF Grant Funds New Institute Targeting How Tech Has Changed Labor Market Statistics

*I Stock 1475012733 1920x1080 — The new Economic Measurement Research Institute, co-led by a UMD professor, will create new approaches to studying the economic activity of households and businesses, as well as the structure of the economy and its overall performance. (Illustration by iStock)*

Collecting economic data has gotten harder as more Americans line up gig work delivering food, renting out rooms or selling wares on Etsy, and fewer individuals and businesses participate in surveys.

At the same time, technological advances have produced rich new sources of information as businesses track transactions at the item level, and provide insights that were previously unavailable.

A University of Maryland economist will co-direct a new federally funded institute aimed at tackling these challenges by modernizing the nation’s measurement of prices, output and labor market outcomes.


*Katharine Abraham headshot — Katharine Abraham*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Economics](https://today.umd.edu/topic/economics), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Behavioral and Social Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-behavioral-and-social-sciences)