----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 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 ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]