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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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