Secretary's Report (2004)
Econometrica, Vol. 73, No. 1 (January, 2005), 303–313
THE ECONOMETRIC SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORTS REPORT OF THE SECRETARY
MADRID, SPAIN
AUGUST 19, 2004
1. Status of Membership and Circulation
THE FIRST SECTION of this report describes the evolution of the Society’s membership and of the number of institutional subscribers. Information is provided on members and subscribers on both a mid-year and end-of-year basis. In each case, circulation is “real,” tied to actual banked receipts of dues and subscription revenue.
The latest information available, as of June 30 of the current year and of previous years, is provided in the top half of Table I. The bottom half of Table I reports the final number of paid-up members and subscribers as of the end of 2003 and previous years. For any given year prior to 2004, the figures in the bottom half of Table I are larger than in the top half, reflecting those memberships and subscriptions for a given year that are initiated between the middle and end of that calendar year.
The bottom section of Table I shows that the circulation of Econometrica increased in 2003 to 6586, representing growth of 5.1 percent from the 2000–2002 average of 6265. Nevertheless the 2003 total remained 2.3 percent below the average of 6742 for 1990–99. All of this unfavorable comparison of 2003 with the 1990–99 average can be attributable to a gradual decline in institutional (mainly library) subscriptions, which in 2003 were 13.1 percent below the 1990–99 average and 4.5 percent below the 2000–02 average. In contrast, regular memberships in 2003 were 0.4 percent above the 1990–99 average and a healthy 8.5 percent above the 2000–02 average. Student memberships in 2003 were an impressive 28.7 percent higher than the 1990–99 average and 20.2 percent above the 2000–02 average.
The figures for June 30, 2004, shown in the last line of the top part of Table I, con- tinue the sharp jump in circulation that started with the June figures for 2003. The erosion of institutional subscriptions continues, with the 2004 figure 17.6 percent be- low 1990–99 and 9.4 percent below 2000–02. Nevertheless, the fact that the mid-year 2004 number was slightly higher than in 2003 is encouraging in light of the rapid price increases that occurred during 2004.
