Formation | 1885 |
---|---|
Legal status | Learned society in economics |
Purpose | Encourage research, publication, and free discussion of economic topics |
Headquarters | Nashville, TN, USA |
Region served
|
United States |
Members
|
18,000 |
President
|
Alvin E. Roth, Stanford University |
Main organ
|
Executive Committee |
Website | www.aeaweb.org |
The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It publishes one of the most prestigious academic journals in economics: the American Economic Review. The AEA was established in 1885 in Saratoga, New York by younger progressive economists trained in the German historical school, including Richard T. Ely and Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman; since 1900 it has been under the control of academics.
The purposes of the Association are: 1) The encouragement of economic research, especially the historical and statistical study of the actual conditions of industrial life; 2) The issue of publications on economic subjects; 3) The encouragement of perfect freedom of economic discussion. The Association as such will take no partisan attitude, nor will it commit its members to any position on practical economic questions. Its current president is Alvin E. Roth of Stanford University.
Once composed primarily of college and university teachers of economics, the Association now attracts an increasing number of members from business and professional groups. Today the membership is about 18,000, over half of whom are academics. About 15% are employed in business and industry, and the remainder largely by federal, state, and local government or other not-for-profit organizations.
For many years, the AEA published three economics journals: the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Literature, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives (which is available online for free). In 2009, it began to publish four new area-specific journals, collectively called the American Economic Journal (AEJ). The four areas covered by AEJ are applied economics, economic policy, macroeconomics, and microeconomics. The AEA recognizes annually a Best Paper Award for papers published in each of the four.