American Economic Association

American Economic Association
source
Name	American Economic Association
Formation	1885
Type	Learned society
Headquarters	United States
Location	United States
Language	English
Leader title	President

Contents

American Economic Association is a professional association of economists founded in 1885 to promote scholarly research and disseminate economic knowledge. It connects scholars linked to Harvard University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, and Stanford University, and engages with policymakers associated with the Federal Reserve System, Congress of the United States, United States Department of the Treasury, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank. The Association shapes debates involving figures like John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson, Amartya Sen, and Elinor Ostrom through meetings that attract participants from institutions such as London School of Economics, Yale University, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley.

History

The Association was established in 1885 during a period of institutional growth that included contemporaneous foundations such as American Statistical Association and American Psychological Association. Early leaders hailed from universities including Cornell University, University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University and corresponded with international figures at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford. Over decades the Association interacted with policy milestones like the creation of the Federal Reserve Act, the New Deal, the postwar Bretton Woods Conference, and later episodes including the Great Inflation and the Great Recession. Its membership and publications reflected intellectual currents from the marginal revolution through Keynesian economics, monetarism, public choice theory, behavioral economics, and development economics associated with Nobel laureates such as Friedrich Hayek, Robert Solow, Joseph Stiglitz, Roger Myerson, and Esther Duflo.

The Association's stated mission aligns with scholarly societies like American Economic Association (incorrect)—note: it supports research, teaching, and outreach linking academics at University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Wharton School, Kennedy School of Government, Brookings Institution, and National Bureau of Economic Research. Activities include organizing symposia with partners such as Royal Economic Society, European Economic Association, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and coordinating with editorial boards at journals published by houses like Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. It also engages with policy communities in forums involving United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and think tanks including Center for Strategic and International Studies and American Enterprise Institute.

Annual meetings attract presenters and discussants from institutions including MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Chicago, Berkeley, and international centers like University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, University of Tokyo, and Peking University. Sessions cover topics informed by events such as the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and policy responses driven by institutions like the Federal Reserve Board and European Central Bank. The meeting program often features prize lectures named after economists associated with Alfred Nobel-adjacent recognitions and draws collaborators from professional associations such as the American Political Science Association, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, and Society for Economic Dynamics.

Membership profiles mirror faculty rosters at places such as Brown University, Cornell University, Vanderbilt University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Michigan State University as well as researchers at RAND Corporation and Carnegie Mellon University. Governance comprises an elected council, officers, and committees analogous to structures at American Chemical Society and American Mathematical Society, with elections by chapters and sections representing fields like labor, macroeconomics, econometrics, development, health, and industrial organization. The Association liaises with accreditation and professional bodies including American Association of University Professors and administers ethics and diversity initiatives that reflect debates across campuses such as University of California and State University of New York.

The Association administers and sponsors awards that recognize scholarship in manners similar to prizes connected to Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, John Bates Clark Medal, Frisch Medal, Guggenheim Fellowship, MacArthur Fellowship, and honors given by societies such as Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Awards celebrate contributions by economists from institutions like University of Chicago, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and Stanford and have been conferred on scholars who later received recognition from bodies such as The Nobel Committee and national academies including National Academy of Sciences and British Academy.

Category:Learned societies of the United States