Beginning November 14, NORC at the University of Chicago will be contacting current and former American Economic Association (AEA) members to complete an important survey sponsored by the AEA. 

In April 2018, the AEA Executive Committee voted to establish a standing Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Professional Conduct. One of the recommendations of that committee was for the AEA to assess the professional climate in economics, and particularly aspects that limit inclusiveness, demean and/or harass individuals, or otherwise engender incivility in work environments.

Understanding the prevalence of these issues is of great importance in improving our profession.  As a part of this work, NORC at the University of Chicago has designed and will administer a professional climate survey on behalf of the AEA.

Currently, evidence of discrimination and harassment in the economics profession is mostly anecdotal. A representative survey would provide more comprehensive information on the extent and nature of these issues and help to inform resulting programming and policy initiatives.

The success of our efforts largely depends on your thoughtful participation, and we hope that you choose to complete the survey. If you have never been an AEA member or your membership expired more than nine years ago, join the AEA between now and December 1 at https://www.aeaweb.org/membership. New members who join by this date will have an opportunity to complete the climate survey in January.  Current and past AEA members from the last nine years can expect to receive a link to the survey in the next two weeks.

NORC at the University of Chicago specializes in confidential and secure data collection. No one from the AEA will know who responded or be able to match responses back to individuals. Data analysis will be completed by members of the AEA using a fully de-identified data file.

In the meantime, should you have any questions regarding the impetus for the survey or how the survey data will be used, please feel free to email the AEA at climatesurvey@aeapubs.org. If you have questions regarding survey content, administration, or data security, please feel free to contact the researchers at NORC at AEAsurvey@norc.org.