Secretary's Report (2014)
Econometrica, Vol. 83, No. 1 (January, 2015), 387–395
THE ECONOMETRIC SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORTS
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY
TOULOUSE, FRANCE
AUGUST 24–25, 2014
1. THE SOCIETY AND ITS MEMBERSHIP
THE SOCIETY’S MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS ARE PRESENTED in Table I, where the membership is classified according to institutional membership and individual
membership. The number of institutional members has continued to decline. This trend affects almost all comparable scholarly societies. However, individual
membership has kept up strongly. After a sharp increase between 2001 and 2005, the number of ordinary and student members has fluctuated around
5,000. This is shown in Figure 1, where the stimulating effect of World Congresses is also noticeable. This year a slight decrease in the number of ordinary
members was compensated by a slight increase in student membership.
Table II displays the division between print and online and online only memberships and subscriptions. Since the choice between these two alternatives
was offered in 2004, there has been a continued shift toward online only. This affects all categories of subscribers; more than 70% of ordinary members and
more than 90% student members choose to subscribe online only.
Table III compares the Society’s membership and the number of institutional subscribers with those of the American Economic Association. (For the membership
category these figures include ordinary, student, free, and life members for both the ES and the AEA.) The ES/AEA ratio had been increasing, reaching
a peak of 35.9 percent in 2010. Since then, the ratio has declined to 29.6%. The ratio for institutional members is on a similar trajectory, at 41.4% this
year.
