The Cowles Commission was established in 1935 by Alfred Cowles, who was unhappy that stock forecasters had not predicted the crash of 1929. It moved to the University of Chicago in 1939, but was not fully integrated into the Department of Economics. Many Nobel laureates associated with the University of Chicago were Research Associates with the Cowles Commission. The Cowles Commission relocated to Yale University in 1955.
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics has an excellent overview of the Commission and its influence.
The Cowles Commission was known for its use of econometrics and Alfred Cowles co-founded the journal Econometrica.
Further Reading: