American Economic Association

The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals.[3] There are some 23,000 members.

American Economic Association
Formation1885
Legal statusLearned society in economics
PurposeEncourage research, publication, and free discussion of economic topics[1]
HeadquartersNashville, TN, US
Region served
United States
Members
23,000
President
Christina Romer, University of California, Berkeley
President-elect: Susan Athey, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Main organ
Executive Committee[2]
Websitewww.aeaweb.org

History and Constitution

The AEA was established in 1885 in Saratoga Springs, New York[4] by younger progressive economists trained in the German historical school, including Richard T. Ely, Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman and Katharine Coman, the only woman co-founder;[5]: 989  since 1900 it has been under the control of academics.[6][7]

The purposes of the Association are: 1) The encouragement of economic research, especially the historical and statistical study of the actual conditions of industrial life; 2) The issue of publications on economic subjects; 3) The encouragement of perfect freedom of economic discussion. The Association as such will take no partisan attitude, nor will it commit its members to any position on practical economic questions. The Association publishes one of the most prestigious academic journals in economics, namely, the American Economic Review.[8][9]

Once composed primarily of college and university teachers of economics, the Association, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, now attracts an increasing number of members from business and professional groups. Today the membership is about 23,000, over half of whom are academics. About 15% are employed in business and industry, and the remainder largely by federal, state, and local government or other not-for-profit organizations.

As an organization, the AEA has been very hierarchical, as the leadership has been dominated by academics from six academic institutions: Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Columbia, Stanford, and Princeton.[3]

Activities

AEA, in conjunction with over 50 associations in related disciplines known as the Allied Social Science Associations, holds a three-day annual meeting in January to present papers on general economic subjects.[10][11] The annual meeting features about 500 scholarly sessions. A placement service to assist employers and job applicants begins a day prior to the meetings. A continuing education program is held immediately after the annual meeting. Topics vary from year to year.

The AEA publishes three economics journals: the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Literature, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives. In 2009, it began to publish four new area-specific journals, collectively American Economic Journal (AEJ), reporting on applied economics, economic policy, macroeconomics, and microeconomics. The AEA recognizes annually a Best Paper Award for papers published in each of the four areas.[12]

The AEA also publishes AEA Papers and Proceedings each May, featuring papers presented at the AEA meetings in January. Until 2017, these papers were published in the May issue of the American Economic Review.[13]

The AEA also produces EconLit, the AEA's electronic bibliography. It is a comprehensive index to peer-reviewed journal articles, books, book reviews, collective volume articles, working papers, and dissertations. Compiled and abstracted in a searchable format, EconLit indexes 125 years of economic literature from around the world. It follows the JEL classification codes of the Journal of Economic Literature.

The AEA sponsors RFE: Resources for Economists on the Internet, an online source available to the general public without subscription. It catalogs and annotates 2,000+ internet sites under some 97 sections and subsubsections.[14] RFE is currently updated on a monthly basis.

The AEA resource, Job Openings for Economists (JOE) originated in October 1974, and lists job openings for economists. It is published electronically monthly (except January and July).

Each year, the AEA recognizes the lifetime research contributions of four economists by electing them Distinguished Fellows. The Association also awards annually the John Bates Clark Medal for outstanding research accomplishments in economics to a scholar under the age of 40; it is often referred to as the "Baby Nobel", as many of its recipients go on to become Nobel Laureates.[15]

Association presidents

As of 2023, the president of the association is Susan Athey, and the president-elect is Janet Currie.[16] As of 2021, 18% of presidents have been alumni and 20% faculty of Harvard University.

Past presidents of the association include:[17]

Distinguished Fellows

Distinguished Fellow honorees include:[18]

See also

References
    1. "AEA Bylaws" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
    2. "AEA Officers". Retrieved 2017-01-22.
    3. Hoover, Kevin D.; Svorenčík, Andrej (2023). "Who Runs the AEA?". Journal of Economic Literature. 61 (3): 1127–1171. doi:10.1257/jel.20221667. ISSN 0022-0515.
    4. "History and Objectives". American Economics Association. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
    5. Vaughn, Gerald F. (2004). "Katharine Coman: America's first woman institutional economist and a champion of education for citizenship." Journal of Economic Issues 38(4): 989-1002. ISSN 0021-3624
    6. Bernstein, Michael A. (2008). "A Brief History of the American Economic Association". American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 67 (5): 1007–1023. doi:10.1111/j.1536-7150.2008.00608.x.
    7. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition (2008), American Economic Association (abstract).
    8. Oswald, Andrew J. (2007). "An Examination of the Reliability of Prestigious Scholarly Journals: Evidence and Implications for Decision-Makers" (PDF). Economica. 74 (293): 21–31. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0335.2006.00575.x. S2CID 2688339.
    9. Cynthia Clark Northrup, "American Economic Association," The American economy: a historical encyclopedia, Volume 2, ABC-CLIO, 2004, ISBN 1-57607-866-3, pages 9-10.
    10. Siegfried, John J. (2008). "History of the Meetings of the Allied Social Science Associations since World War II". The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 67 (5): 973–984. doi:10.1111/j.1536-7150.2008.00606.x. ISSN 0002-9246. JSTOR 27739749.
    11. American Economic Association, About the AEA Annual Meeting, accessed 27 February 2023
    12. "American Economic Association". www.aeaweb.org. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
    13. "About AEA Papers and Proceedings". American Economic Association. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
    14. "American Economic Association: RFE". www.aeaweb.org. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
    15. Lahart, Justin (April 22, 2010). "Handicapping Economics' 'Baby Nobel,' the Clark Medal". The Wall Street Journal.
    16. "American Economic Association Executive Committee". American Economic Association. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
    17. "Past Presidents". American Economic Association. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
    18. An AEA site listing all Distinguished Fellows and, since 2004, accompanying linked AEA statements is here. Accompanying statements for years before 2004 may be found in the following year of the American Economic Review, issue no. 3 (June), on two unnumbered front pages, also accessible electronically, as at JSTOR.
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