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Date: | Fri Mar 31 17:18:23 2006 |
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In a recent lunchroom conversation a colleague made the observation that
there are a number of major sub-fields in Economics that do not have their
own professional societies. He gave the examples of macroeconomics and of
industrial organization (at least in the U.S. according to him). Another
possible example that came up was econometrics, since apparently the
Econometrics Society these days is not primarily for econometricians. More
provocatively, he attributed this to the influence of the National Bureau
of Economic Research in limiting the incentives for top people in these
fields to organize and participate in such societies. The argument would go
Why
bother with a sub-field society meeting, when anyone worth talking to would
be
at an NBER conference?
So basically out of idle curiosity, I wanted to ask HES subscribers:
1)Whether it really is true that there are major sub-fields of Economics
that do not have their own professional societies? Perhaps there are
societies for Macro, IO, and Econometrics of which I am not aware.
2)Insofar as some sub-fields do not have their own societies, how can one
explain this? I myself am not convinced of the NBER explanation -- the
formation of the Society of Labor Economists in the last 5 years or so by
Edward Lazear, Gary Becker and others with NBER credentials would seem to
challenge this. I would be interested in possible alternative explanations.
Along similar lines, there may have been greater lags for some sub-fields
than others between when the sub-field seemed to emerge and when its
professional society was formed. So then the question arises of what can
explain differences in these lags.
3)Does anyone have examples of professional sub-field societies in
Economics that have gone defunct? If so, what were the reasons for a given
society's demise?
Thanks,
David Mitch
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