January 17, 2023

To: Members of the American Economic Association
From: Peter L. Rousseau, Secretary-Treasurer
Subject: AEA Member Announcements and Annual Meeting Highlights

After two years of virtual meetings, the 2023 ASSA Meeting in New Orleans proved to be an engaging and exciting reunion for the 6,000 people who attended. Sixty-three associations came together to hold more than 500 scientific sessions including paper sessions, panel sessions, presidential addresses, poster sessions, and lectures.  There were also more than 230 special events including receptions, luncheons, and breakfast meetings. Get an inside look at some of the 2023 sessions, attendees, content, and lively discussions by viewing the ASSA Photo Gallery at https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2023-photos and watching the webcasts.

The AEA thanks the 2023 AEA Program Committee members for their efforts in reviewing and selecting sessions and papers for the meeting.  The committee was formed by Susan Athey, AEA President, and included individuals from a broad range of institutions and fields, resulting in a diverse and interesting program.  View the members of the committee here: https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/committees/program-committee. 

More than 20 AEA sessions were live streamed during the meeting.  The complimentary webcasts are now available on demand at https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/webcasts/2023.  Highlights include:

• AEA Distinguished Lecture - "Distorted Innovation: Getting the Direction of Technology Wrong" (Daron Acemoglu)
• AEA Presidential Address - "Does Monetary Policy Matter? The Narrative Approach after 35 Years" (Christina Romer)
• AEA Nobel Laureate Luncheon honoring the 2021 Nobel Laureates: Joshua Angrist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David Card from University of California-Berkeley, and Guido Imbens from Stanford University (Susan Athey presiding)
• AEA/AFA Joint Luncheon - "New Foundations for International Macro-Policy: Mundell-Fleming 60 years later" (Gita Gopinath)
• AEA/CSWEP Panel on Sexual Harassment in the Economics Profession: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward (Judith Chevalier presiding)
• Big Data to Infer Beliefs, Information and Unobserved Costs (Laura Veldkamp presiding)
• China and U.S. in the International Monetary System (Carmen Reinhart presiding)
• The Economic Impact of Access to Reproductive Health Services (Martha Bailey presiding)
• The Economic Implications of the Russian War in Ukraine (Jan Svejnar presiding)
• Efficient and Effective Course Preparation (Wendy Stock presiding)
• Gender in the Economics Profession (Kasey Buckles presiding)
• Gender Inequality and Schools (Sandra Black and Justin Wolfers presiding)
• How Can Department Chairs Influence Diversity, Equity and Belonging in the Economics Profession? (Donna Ginther presiding)
• Lessons Learned from U.S. Economic Policy Responses to the Pandemic (Wendy Edelberg and David Wessel presiding)
• Race and Family Background as Determinants of Educational Outcomes (Francisca Antman presiding)
• Slavery and Beyond (Nathan Nunn presiding)

Webcasts from 2009 through 2022 are also available at https://www.aeaweb.org/webcasts/.   

Stay tuned for AEA Poster Session Videos featuring AEA interviews with select 2023 poster presenters who discuss their research and the broader implications of their work. Video highlights will be available soon at https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/videos. 

Call for Sessions and Papers for the 2024 AEA Annual Meeting. The deadline for submissions to be considered for the January 2024 AEA Annual Meeting program in San Antonio is April 1 for individual papers and April 15 for complete sessions. The submission portal will open on March 1 at https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/submissions.

Econ-Harmony helps prospective individual paper submitters for the AEA Annual Meeting find others with similar interests who might join them to form a complete session submission and provides an opportunity to volunteer as a session chair. Thirty percent of submitted complete sessions and 9% of submitted individual papers appeared in sessions on the 2023 AEA Annual Meeting program. Econ-Harmony will open on February 1 at https://www.aeaweb.org/econ-harmony/.

AEA Editor Transitions. The AEA Executive Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of Navin Kartik of Columbia University as the new lead editor for the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics beginning January 2023, and Matthew Gentzkow of Stanford University as the new lead editor for the American Economic Review: Insights beginning January 2024. Both new editors were appointed after extensive searches that included input from the membership. The Association thanks outgoing AEJ: Micro Editor Leeat Yariv and current AER: Insights Editor Amy Finkelstein for their outstanding efforts devoted to making the AEA journals among the most respected scholarly outlets in economics.

The AEA is implementing a new Data Legality Policy, effective for manuscripts first submitted after July 1, 2023. The Policy states all data used in papers published in the Association’s journals should be legally acquired.  When submitting a paper after the policy is effective, the author must attest that all data used in the paper are legally acquired or request an exemption to the Data Legality Policy.  For more information, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/data/data-legality-policy. 

Check out the programs, services, resources, and committees of the AEA in the resources section of the website where you can view and download flyers and brochures. Go to https://www.aeaweb.org/resources/brochures.  To stay informed, follow the AEA twitter account @AEAInformation which is used to share information throughout the year. Content related to AEA publications will continue to be posted @AEAjournals.