 Following the stock market crash, Harwood continued to write articles on the excesses of inflation, which drew the attention of influential businessmen and academicians.In 1933, Dr. Vannevar Bush, then vice-president and dean of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, encouraged Harwood to found a research institution that would provide valuable financial advice to ordinary citizens.With two hundred dollars saved from selling his articles, Harwood founded AIER to conduct research into the wide range of economic, social, and monetary developments that had contributed to the catastrophic economic contraction of the Great Depression.