The email below has just been received. It is a variation on the standard form letter response that others have received. Perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel. At least we know the date now when our fate will be decided. One encouraging thing is that Ian Castles, former Head of the ABS, has written a very supportive letter on our behalf. As a result he has been invited to join the ABS deliberations at the end of this month. I am hopeful that having someone of his standing there will advance our cause. John Lodewijks -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 2:45 PM To: John Lodewijks Cc: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask] Subject: Revisions to the ASRC [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] Dear Professor Lodewijks Thank you for your email to the Australian Statistician, Brian Pink. I am replying on behalf of the ABS as my area has responsibility for the review of the Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC). Your concerns with regard to the proposed treatment of Economic History and History of Economic Thought have been formally noted by the review team and we will not finalise our recommendations in this regard until we have considered input from all interested parties. We have already received a number of submissions similar to yours and will evaluate these shortly after the deadline for submissions (14 September 2007). We intend to consult with you further after we have evaluated these submissions. Please note that a final decision is not due until November 2007. We consider your argument to have substance and without wishing to pre-empt the outcome of these considerations, you should take some encouragement from the fact that the status of the initial draft proposal is very low. It was based largely on the relatively low amount R&D expenditure reported for these fields in recent years. This is only one of the criteria being used for the review. Your email alludes to other measures of importance such as Ph.D completions and DEST publications and these will also be taken into account in finalising the review's recommendations. We will endeavour to get back to you by the end of September with an update on this proposal. Regards, Steve Steve Crabb Branch Head Integration and Innovation Statistics Macro-economics and Integration Group Australian Bureau of Statistics Ph (02) 6252 7983 Mob 0408 266 379 Fax 02 6252 8045