Rules and Procedures
Last updated October 28, 2024
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Organization of the Econometric Society
1.1. The Econometric Society
1.2. Members
1.2.1. General Members
1.2.2. Fellows
1.3. Regions
1.4. Officers
1.5. Council
1.6. Executive Committee
1.7. World Congresses
1.8. Publications
1.9. Code of Conduct Application and Procedures
1.9.1. Removal Based on Violation of Code of Conduct
1.9.1(a). Standards for Removal of Society Leadership
1.9.1(b). Standards for Removal of Fellowship Status
1.9.1(c). Degree of Proof for Substantial Evidence
1.9.1(d). Removal Procedures
1.9.1(d)(i). Removal Procedures: Elected Positions
1.9.1(d)(ii). Removal Procedures: Appointed Positions
1.9.2. Required Adherence to Code of Conduct
1.9.2(a). Consent Requirement
1.9.2(b). Self-Disclosure Form Requirement
1.9.2(c). Reporting Requirement
1.9.2(d). Third Party Reporting - Officers
2.1. President
2.2. Vice-President
2.3. Past President
2.4. Executive Vice-President
2.5. Executive Director
2.6. Director of Publications - Council, Executive Committee, and Other Committees
3.1. Council
3.2. Executive Committee
3.3. Election of At-Large Members
3.4 Ad Hoc Committees
3.5. Investments Committee
3.6. Audit Committee
3.7. Fundraising Committee
3.8. Committee for Supporting Professional Development
3.9. Travel Expenses
3.10. Confidentiality statements
3.11. The Sonnenschein Service Prize - Nomination and Election Procedures for Officers and Council
4.1. Nominating Committee for Officers and Council
4.2. Election of Officers
4.3. Election of Council Members
4.4. Procedures for the Election of Officers and Council Members
4.5. Rank-Order Voting - Nomination and Election Procedures for Fellows
5.1. Nominating Committee for Fellows
5.2. Election of Fellows
5.3. Procedures for the Fellows Nominating Committee -
Regional Activities of the Society
6.1. Regional Standing Committees
6.2. Regional Meetings
6.3. Politics and the Society
6.4. Fisher-Schultz Lectures
6.5. Walras-Bowley Lectures
6.6. Jacob Marschak Lectures
6.7. Lecture series: Blackwell-Robinson, Griliches, Hotelling, Lewis-Ostrom, Lucas-Modigliani, and Sargan
6.8. Cowles Lecture
6.9. Schools and Workshops Committee
6.10. Grants for Young Economists - World Congresses
7.1. Procedures for the Organization of World Congresses
7.2. Frisch Memorial Lectures - Publications
8.1. Econometrica
8.2. Publication of Invited Lectures and Presidential Addresses in Econometrica
8.3. Frisch Medal
8.4. Arrow Prize
8.5. Haavelmo Prize
8.6. Quantitative Economics (QE) and Theoretical Economics (TE)
8.7. Best Paper Award for QE and TE
8.8. Special Conflicts of Interest Policy for Editors, Co-Editors, Assoiate Editors, and Data Editors
8.9. Appointment of Editors and Co-Editors of Econometrica, QE, and TE
8.10. Data Editor
8.11. Monograph Series
Section 1. Organization of the Econometric Society
The Econometric Society (the “Society”) is an international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation to statistics and mathematics. Founded in 1930, the Society was incorporated in 2012 in Delaware as a non-stock, non-profit corporation. According to Article 1 of the original Constitution, which now appears in Article II, Section 1 (b) of the By-Laws, its main objective is to promote studies that aim at a unification of the theoretical-quantitative and empirical-quantitative approach to economic problems and that are penetrated by constructive and rigorous thinking similar to that which has come to dominate in the natural sciences. The Society operates as a completely disinterested, scientific organization without political, social, financial, or nationalistic bias.
This document contains a detailed description of the rules and procedures of the Society in accordance with its By-Laws (the “Rules and Procedures”). Any changes within the provisions of the Rules and Procedures must be approved by the Executive Committee (as defined in Section 1.6) and ratified by simple majority of the Council (as defined in Section 1.5). Any changes in the By-Laws must be approved by the Council and ratified by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of Active Fellows (as defined in Section 1.2.2).
Membership shall be open to anyone seriously interested in the objectives of the Society and who abides by the Society’s Professional Code of Conduct - see Section 1.9 for more information. The Society shall have two (2) classes of members, general members (the “General Members”) and Active Fellows (as defined in Section 1.2.2, taken together with the General Members, collectively, the “Members”). The individuals comprising the Society Leadership (as defined in section 1.9) are considered Active Fellows in addition to their leadership position as long as their dues are paid. The dues for Members, as well as the criteria for membership eligibility, shall be determined by the Executive Committee.
All persons seriously interested in the objectives of the Society and who abide by the Society’s Professional Code of Conduct shall be eligible for general membership. General Members are not entitled to vote on any matter, except in the election of members of the Regional Standing Committees as described in Section 6.1.
General Members shall be affiliated to the region in which they reside, with the possible exception of those who have strong ties to Africa even though they do not reside in the region, who may be granted a double regional affiliation by submitting to the Executive Vice President (as defined in Section 2.4) and Executive Director (as defined in Section 2.5) a written explanation of their motivation, noting the ways in which they are actively engaged in the region. The secondary affiliation will be granted subject to approval by the Africa Regional Standing Committee. The exception set forth in this paragraph for double regional affiliation may be dropped at some future date by the Council.
Fellows are the foundation and are at the core of the Society. The Active Fellows elect the Council as the governing body of the Society. The Council, at its discretion, shall consult them on any significant issue, obtaining their decision by electronic vote. The rules for nomination and election of Fellows are described in Section 5.
Fellows are classified by regions according to their main affiliation. They may also list a (single) secondary affiliation in another region, indicating a willingness to help and serve in that region, subject to approval by that region’s Regional Standing Committee.
Only Fellows who have paid their membership dues for the current year (the “Active Fellows”) are entitled to vote. Fellows who have not paid their membership dues are considered inactive (the “Inactive Fellows”).
A person’s status as a Fellow may be revoked in the event of substantial evidence of breach of the Society’s Professional Code of Conduct as described in Section 1.9.
The Society is currently organized into six (6) regions: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and Other Areas, Latin America, and North America. The number and country composition of the regions is determined by the Council. Regional activities of the Society are organized by Regional Standing Committees. The composition, election of members, and functions of the Regional Standing Committees are described in Section 6.1.
The Officers of the Society consist of a President, two (2) Vice-Presidents, a Past President, and an Executive Vice-President (each individually, an “Officer” and collectively, the “Officers”). The functions of the Officers are described in Section 2. The rules for nomination and election of Officers are described in Section 4. Any Officer of the Society may be removed from office at any time by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the Voting Council (as defined in Section 1.5) then in office. This removal may take place at either a regular or a special meeting of the Council called according to section 3.1 below. An Officer of the Society may also be removed from office in the event of breach of the Society’s Professional Code of Conduct as described in Section 1.9.
The terms of elected members of the Council shall be four (4) years, except that if a Council member has been elected as an at-large member (an “At-Large member”) of the Executive Committee, then such Council member’s term shall be extended until the end of his or her term on the Executive Committee. The affairs and general business of the Society are managed by the Council. The members with voting rights on the Council are the President, the two (2) Vice-Presidents, the Past President, plus 22 members from the Society’s regions elected by the Active Fellows (the “Voting Council”). Those members are allocated among the regions based on their primary membership on June 30 of the previous year in the manner described in Section 3.1. The Executive Vice-President and the Editors of the Journals (as defined in Section 1.8) are nonvoting members, unless they were elected to the Council before their appointment (the “Non-Voting Council” and together with the Voting Council, the “Council”). The Council is chaired by the President. Any member of the Council, including Officers, may be removed from office at any time by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the Council members then in office. This removal may take place at either a regular or a special meeting of the Council as described in Section 3.1 below. A minimum of 15% of the Active Fellows may also petition to have a Council member removed because of a breach of the Society Code of Conduct as described in Section 1.9.
The Executive Committee is a subcommittee of the Council with the ordinary decision-making authority of the Society (the “Executive Committee”). The Executive Committee has seven (7) members with voting rights: the President, the two (2) Vice-Presidents, and four (4) At-Large members elected by the Council among its members from at least three (3) different regions. The Past President, the Executive Vice-President, and the Editors of the three (3) Journals are nonvoting members. The Executive Committee is chaired by the President. The functions of the Executive Committee are described in Section 3.2, and the rules for election of At-Large members are described in Section 3.3.
In addition to holding regional meetings, the Society organizes World Congresses, currently every five (5) years. Past World Congresses have been held in Rome (l965), Cambridge, UK (1970), Toronto (l975), Aix-en-Provence (1980), Cambridge, MA (1985), Barcelona (1990), Tokyo (1995), Seattle (2000), London (2005), Shanghai (2010), Montréal (2015), and Milan (virtual, 2020). The purpose of World Congresses is to bring together scholars from all of the Society’s regions to support its global reach and allow a wider representation of interests and backgrounds than is possible at the regional meetings. The organization of World Congresses is described in Section 7.
The Society publishes three (3) academic journals, Econometrica, Quantitative Economics (QE), and Theoretical Economics (TE) (each, a “Journal” and collectively, the “Journals”), and a Monograph Series (the “Monograph Series,” and together with the Journals, the “Publications”). Editorial decisions are the responsibility of the Editors (the “Editors,” and individually, an “Editor”). The operation of the Journals and the Monograph Series is described in Section 8.
1.9 Code of Conduct Application and Procedures
The Society holds that principles of professional conduct should guide its Officers, Council members, all editorial board members including Editors, Co-Editors, Associate Editors, and the Data Editor for all of the Society’s Journals and its Monograph Series, and those serving on committees of the Society (collectively, the “Society Leadership”). The Society Leadership must follow the Society’s approved Professional Code of Conduct (the “Professional Code of Conduct”) and its Conflict of Interest Policy (the “COI Policy,” and together with the Professional Code of Conduct, the “Code of Conduct”). The Professional Code of Conduct and the COI Policy can be found here. The Society Leadership must each annually sign a statement affirming understanding of and compliance with these policies.
Because it is crucial for the Society that the Society Leadership be recognized as adhering to the heightened standards of conduct, in cases with substantial public information regarding alleged violations of the Code of Conduct and significant risk of damage to the reputation of the Society, the Executive Committee or Council may remove one (1) of the aforementioned principals, with the possibility of reappointment or reelection if the principal is later exonerated. The Society Leadership must acknowledge this right of the Executive Committee as a condition for accepting their positions. The specific procedures for removals are described below in Section 1.9.
Fellows and General Members of the Society are also required to adhere to the Code of Conduct, to the extent applicable. As discussed below, fellowship status in the Society may be revoked if there is substantial evidence that the Fellow has committed violations of the Professional Code of Conduct.
1.9.1. Removal Based on Violation of Code of Conduct
The criteria for removal of a person from a position in the Society based on a violation of Code of Conduct, to the extent applicable, depends on the position the person is being removed from.
1.9.1(a). Standards for Removal of Society Leadership
Substantial public information regarding alleged violations of the Code of Conduct or other behavior which creates significant risk of damage to the reputation of the Society is sufficient grounds for removing a member of Society Leadership from their leadership position. In this situation, the Executive Committee, in its discretion, may suggest resignation to the person in lieu of removing them from their position. Substantial evidence establishing that the individual committed violations of the Code of Conduct is also sufficient grounds for removal. The Society Leadership may be removed for other grounds as well.
1.9.1(b). Standards for Removal of Fellowship Status
The only grounds for revoking a person’s status as a Fellow are substantial evidence establishing that the individual committed violations of the Professional Code of Conduct.
1.9.1(c). Degree of Proof for Substantial Evidence
The Society does not have the financial resources or legal powers to conduct complete investigations of alleged violations of the Code of Conduct. Consequently, decisions to remove Society Leadership or Fellows on the basis of substantial evidence of a violation of the Code of Conduct, to the extent applicable, can only be undertaken in one of two situations. First, the Society may reach such a determination if a third-party investigation or litigation reveals sufficient publicly available information for a determination. Second, the Society may reach such a determination if it collects sufficient information of violative conduct, in connection with elections, meetings, publications, or other internal Society affairs, to determine that there has been a breach.
The procedure for removal depends on whether the person is being removed from an Elected Position (as hereinafter defined) or an Appointed Position (as hereinafter defined) in the Society. Elected Positions refer to members of the Council, Officers, or Fellows (each an “Elected Position”). Appointed Positions refer to all editorial board members, members of committees of the Society, and (where appointed) chairs or members of the Regional Standing Committees (each an “Appointed Position”). With the exception of Fellows, all these persons fall into the category of Society Leadership.
1.9.1(d)(i). Removal Procedures: Elected Positions
Removal of fellowship standing, or from an Elected Position, requires that a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the Voting Council then in office conclude that there is substantial evidence establishing that a Fellow or the person in the Elected Position has violated the Code of Conduct, to the extent applicable.
Any person in an Elected Position, other than Fellows, in the Society may be removed from said position at any time by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the Voting Council then in office on the basis of any grounds as set forth in Section 1.9.1(a). This removal may take place at either a regular or a special meeting of the Council called according to the Rules and Procedures.
1.9.1(d)(ii). Removal Procedures: Appointed Positions
Removal from an Appointed Position requires that a majority vote of the Executive Committee conclude that there is substantial evidence establishing that the person in the Appointed Position has violated the Code of Conduct.
Any person in an Appointed Position in the Society may be removed from said position at any time by a majority vote of the Executive Committee then in office. This removal may take place at either a regular or a special meeting of the Executive Committee called according to the Rules and Procedures. In cases where the appointment is not made by the Executive Committee, the person making appointments to this position may also remove said person from the Appointed Position. For example, an Editor of one (1) of the Society’s Journals may remove an Associate Editor of that Journal.
Active Fellows may also petition for removal of a person from an Elected Position or an Appointed Position. If 15% of the Active Fellows petition for the removal of any person from an Elected Position in the Society, with a statement of why the individual should be removed based on violation of the Code of Conduct or other cause, the Council must make a decision. A petition meeting these requirements regarding an Appointed Position would require that the Executive Committee make a decision.
1.9.2. Required Adherence to Code of Conduct
All new and renewing General Members and newly elected or appointed persons must electronically affirm their agreement and adherence to the Code of Conduct as a statement of future intent.
1.9.2(b). Self-Disclosure Form Requirement
Notwithstanding section 1.9.2(a), upon being chosen as a potentially elected or appointed person, said individual must fill out a self-disclosure form indicating past adherence to the Code of Conduct (the “Self-Disclosure Form”). For prospective Fellows, the Self-Disclosure Form will be required after voting has taken place but before the individual has accepted the position as Fellow. For each Elected Position other than fellowship, the Self-Disclosure Form will be required when the individual is identified as a potential nominee for the position in question. For each Appointed Position, the Self-Disclosure Form will be required after the individual has been selected and before the appointment becomes effective. Failure to fill out the Self-Disclosure Form will be taken to mean that the individual is declining the election or appointment in question. The Executive Committee reserves the right to determine based on the information provided in the Self-Disclosure Form that the individual is not qualified to accept the election or appointment.
1.9.2(c). Reporting Requirement
Finally, if any elected or appointed person becomes the target of an investigation into behavior that may constitute a violation of the Code of Conduct, for example, by a university or government agency, the elected or appointed person is required to report this as soon as they are aware of it to the Executive Committee. Failure to do so will be interpreted as itself a violation of the Code of Conduct. Said person must also inform the Executive Committee upon completion of such an investigation, providing as much information as they are legally allowed to provide.
1.9.2(d). Third Party Reporting
Individuals who wish to inform the Society of allegations of a violation of the Code of Conduct on the part of someone covered by the Code of Conduct may contact any Officer or the Executive Director. Such information will be treated as confidential to the extent allowed by law.
The Officers of the Society shall be a President, a First Vice-President, a Second Vice-President, a Past President, and an Executive Vice-President. In addition to the powers and duties of the Officers of the Society set forth in the By-Laws, they shall have such powers and perform such duties in the management of the Society as the Council from time to time may prescribe.
The President is the chief operating officer of the Society. The President’s term of office is one (1) calendar year and not more than one (1) term may be served. The specific duties of the President are:
1. Actively consider the issues facing the Society and initiate policies designed to deal with them, including the appointment of ad hoc committees.
2. Appoint the Nominating Committee (as defined in Section 4.1) for Officers and Council and the Fellows Nominating Committee (as defined in Section 5.1).
3. Serve as Chair of the Executive Committee and prepare the agenda in collaboration with the Executive Vice-President.
4. Serve as Chair of the Council and of the meetings of Active Fellows and prepare the agenda in collaboration with the Executive Vice-President.
5. Serve as Chair of his/her corresponding Regional Standing Committee, and appoint Chairs in those cases described in Section 6.1.
6. Present a Presidential Address at a minimum of three (3) regional meetings during the year, and coordinate the representation of the Past President or one (1) of the Vice-Presidents at the meetings that he/she is not attending.
7. Submit an annual report no later than 3 months after his/her presidency finishes to be posted on the Society’s website and published in Econometrica in the May issue of the year after the end of his/her term
The term of office of the First and the Second Vice-President is one (1) calendar year and not more than one (1) term may be served. The specific duties of the Vice-Presidents are:
1. Actively collaborate with the President in dealing with all the issues facing the Society.
2. Serve as a member of the Council and of the Executive Committee.
3. If the President is not from the same region, serve as Chair of the corresponding Regional Standing Committee.
At the end of his/her term, the President becomes Past President for a term of one (1) year, unless the President was removed by a vote of the Council in accordance with Section 1.9. The specific duties of the Past President are as follows:
1. Serve as a member of the Council and of the Executive Committee.
2. Serve as Chair of the Nominating Committee for Officers and Council.
3. If the President and Vice-Presidents are all from other regions, serve as Chair of the corresponding Regional Standing Committee.
The Executive Vice-President performs the functions of Secretary and Treasurer of the Society (the “Executive Vice President”). He/she is nominated by the Executive Committee and serves at most two (2) consecutive five (5) year terms. The specific duties of Secretary are:
1. Preserve the institutional memory of the Society, providing the Officers and members of the Nominating Committees with all necessary information. Act as trustee of all confidential information such as election results.
2. Maintain correspondence with Officers, Executive Committee, Council, Regional Standing Committees, Editors, and Fellows.
3. Organize the nominations and elections of Officers, Council, and Fellows. Oversee the electronic ballot system.
4. Arrange the meetings of the Council and of the Executive Committee and, in conjunction with the President, prepare the agenda and take minutes.
5. Announce the death of any former President by an e-mail notice to Members supplemented with a brief tribute written by the President, a Vice-President, or a past President, with one (1) or more links to other obituaries.
6. Prepare an annual report to be presented to the Executive Committee and subsequently posted on the Society’s website and published in Econometrica in the January issue of the following year.
The specific duties of Treasurer are:
1. Arrange the billing and collection of funds owed to the Society. Establish prices for services provided by the Society. Authorize expenditures and disburse funds in accordance with established procedures and policies agreed by the Executive Committee.
2. Prepare a budget and make recommendations to the Executive Committee with respect to membership and subscription rates.
3. Serve as Business Manager for the Society’s journals in all financial dealings with their typesetter, printer, publisher, and Managing Editor. Supervise the reporting of circulation data by the publisher. Solicit bids periodically from alternative suppliers.
4. Arrange for the allocation of the Society’s portfolio, in accordance with the recommendations of the Investments Committee.
5. Arrange for the annual audit of the Society’s accounts by a professional auditing firm, and consult with the auditor on changes in accounting and business procedures. Arrange the payment of any taxes that may be due.
6. Prepare an annual report to be presented to the Executive Committee and subsequently posted on the Society’s website and published in Econometrica in the January issue of the following year.
Under the supervision of the Executive Vice-President, the Executive Director is primarily responsible for the efficient management of the Office of the Society, currently at the Department of Economics, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. The Executive Director is expected to coordinate and oversee the Society’s activities, and to exercise initiative in the adoption and implementation of new technologies (the “Executive Director”). The specific duties of the Executive Director are:
1. Liaise with providers of contractual services required to produce the Society’s journals, and with the publisher of the Monograph Series.
2. Liaise with the Regional Standing Committees and the organizers of all regional meetings and World Congresses. Send Calls for Papers, reminders of submission deadlines for these meetings, and instructions for the nomination of Fellows.
3. Maintain and update the lists of General Members, Fellows, Officers, Editors, past lecturers, and the lists used by the Nominating Committees.
4. Manage the Society’s membership, subscription and payment processes; and serve as the primary contact for related inquiries.
5. Maintain the historical archive of the Society’s operations and meetings.
6. Manage, maintain content and oversee development projects for the Society’s website.
2.6. Director of Publications
Under the supervision of the Executive Vice-President, the Director of Publications is primarily responsible for the efficient management of the Society’s publishing operation and supports the Editors and editorial boards of the Society’s publications. The specific duties of the Director of Publications are:
1. Be responsible for the publication workflow of journal and monograph series submissions and ensure compliance with editorial policies.
2. Be responsible for the orientation and setup of new editorial board members; and liaise with Editors and editorial boards to ensure compliance with and development of editorial policy.
3. Prepare monthly and annual reports, including the collection and analysis of editorial data.
4. Maintain records and update lists of editorial board members and terms.
5. Serves as the primary contact for publication and editorial inquiries, including permissions.
6. Maintain content for publication related pages on the Society’s website, including the Forthcoming papers and Supplemental materials.
Section 3. Council, Executive Committee, and Other Committees
According to Article IV, Section 3 of the By-Laws, all corporate powers of the Society shall be exercised by or under the authority of, and the business and affairs of the Society shall be controlled by, the Council.
The Council currently consists of 30 members. The members with voting rights within the Council are the President, the two (2) Vice-Presidents, the Past President, and 22 members from the Society’s regions elected by the Active Fellows. These members serve four (4) year terms, except in the case of a Council member’s election as At-Large member of the Executive Committee, in which case the Council member’s term is extended as necessary to ensure that he/she remains on the Council as long as he/she is an At-Large member of the Executive Committee.
Two (2) years off the Council must elapse before a previous member with voting rights on the Council may serve again as a Council member representing a region.
The Executive Vice-President and the Editors of the Society journals are nonvoting members, unless they are elected in the Council elections. The Council is chaired by the President.
The Council meets at the site of the World Congresses of the Society. At any other time, the Council conducts its business by conference call or preferably by email. Special meetings of the Council may be called by or at the request of the President, or one third (1/3) of the members of the Council. All special meetings of the Council are conducted by conference call.
The 22 elected Council members are allocated in the following manner. Each region is entitled to one (1) Council seat. The remaining Council seats are allocated among the regions by applying the D’Hondt method, illustrated below. To allow members of the Council to complete their terms, the adjustment in the regional composition of the Council would be made when the term of a Council member of the region losing the Council seat expires.
The D’Hondt method is illustrated below for the 2023 Council elected in 2022. The first table gives the membership size in each region as of June 30, 2021, and the fractions formed by dividing the membership by positive integers.
Primary membership in each region N and their fractions N/k (June 30, 2021)
| N | N/2 | N/3 | N/4 | N/5 | N/6 | N/7 | N/8 | |
| Africa | 138 | 69 | 46 | 35 | 28 | 23 | 20 | 17 |
| Asia | 1,379 | 690 | 460 | 345 | 276 | 230 | 197 | 172 |
| Australasia | 235 | 118 | 78 | 59 | 47 | 39 | 34 | 29 |
| Europe and Other Areas | 1,748 | 874 | 583 | 437 | 350 | 291 | 250 | 219 |
| Latin America | 239 | 120 | 80 | 60 | 48 | 40 | 34 | 30 |
| North America | 2,546 | 1,273 | 849 | 637 | 509 | 424 | 364 | 318 |
After assigning one (1) seat to each of the six (6) regions, the D’Hondt method allocates the remaining 16 seats on the Council according to the ordering of the cells in the table above, starting with the largest cell. Based on the June 2021 data, the 16 additional Council seats are given in order by the non-empty cells in the following table.
| N | N/2 | N/3 | N/4 | N/5 | N/6 | N/7 | N/8 | Council Members from Region | |
| Africa | 0 | ||||||||
| Asia | 3 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 4 | ||||
| Australasia | 0 | ||||||||
| Europe and Other Areas | 2 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 5 | |||
| Latin America | 0 | ||||||||
| North America | 1 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 7 |
According to Article VI, Section 1 of the By-Laws, the Executive Committee is a subcommittee of the Council with the ordinary decision-making authority of the Society. To the extent that such powers are not specifically reserved solely to the Council by law, the Executive Committee shall have all of the powers and authority of the Council in the intervals between meetings of the Council.
The Executive Committee consists of 12 members. The members with voting rights are the President, the two (2) Vice-Presidents, and four (4) At-Large members elected by the Council among its members from at least three (3) different regions (the “Voting Executive Committee Members.” The Past President, the Executive Vice-President, and the Editors of the Society journals are nonvoting members (the “Non-Voting Executive Committee Members”). The Executive Committee is chaired by the President.
At-Large members of the Executive Committee are elected according to the rules set in 3.3. They serve four (4) year terms. Council members who are Editors or Co-Editors of the Society journals cannot be At-Large members. If an At-Large member is elected Second Vice-President, is appointed Editor or Co-Editor of one (1) of the Society journals, or resigns for whatever reason, a new member will be elected to complete the remaining term. If this term is one (1) or two (2) years, the new member would be eligible for immediate reelection.
The Executive Committee meets at least once a year, normally in late August at the site of the European Summer Meeting on the day before the first day of sessions. At the end of these meetings, the Voting Executive Committee Members hold a “closed meeting” at which they discuss the performance of the Executive Vice-President, the Executive Director, the Director of Publications and the Editors of the Society journals. This occasion provides an opportunity for the Voting Executive Committee Members to decide on changes in case of unsatisfactory performance. The Executive Committee may also meet at any other convenient time, for example at the site of the North American Winter Meeting. It may also conduct its business by conference call or email.
The Executive Vice-President will send to the Council the agenda (and any appropriate supporting documents) of the meetings of the Executive Committee at least three (3) weeks before the meetings, so that any Council member can make suggestions. The agenda will be posted on the Society’s website at least three (3) weeks before the meetings, so that any Members can make suggestions. Any proposal supported by not less than five (5) percent of the Active Fellows shall be put on the agenda of the next meeting of the Executive Committee if sent to the Executive Vice-President at least one (1) month before the meeting. The minutes of these meetings will be sent to the Council and a summary of decisions posted on the Society’s website.
The specific functions of the Executive Committee are:
1. Review existing activities of the Society and consider proposals for new activities.
2. Submit proposals for major changes in policy to the Council and/or the Active Fellows for their approval.
3. Appoint the Editor, and Co-Editors of Econometrica, QE, and TE, and the Editors of the Monograph Series. Make recommendations concerning the content, format, and publication arrangements.
4. Appoint, or reappoint, one (1) candidate for Executive Vice-President to be listed on the ballot of Officers.
5. Approve the past accounts and the budget for future activities of the Society.
6. Establish membership and institutional subscription rates, and honoraria for the Executive Vice-President, the Editors and Co-Editors of Econometrica, QE, and TE, and the Editors of the Monograph Series.
7. Decide on the location, appoint the Organization Committee and the Local Arrangements Chair, and review planning for future World Congresses, including the allocation of Society-financed travel grants.
3.3. Election of At-Large Members
When there are one (1) or more vacancies of At-Large members of the Executive Committee for the following year, the list of eligible Council members is submitted to the Council elected for the following year, whose members will be known by September 30 of the current year (see Section 4.4). Voting is by rank-order preference (see Section 4.5). The election ballot is prepared by the Executive Vice-president for distribution no later than October 1, with a voting deadline of October 7, of the current year.
If a winner does not wish to serve, the next lowest-ranked eligible Council member is asked, and so on. The procedure will be adjusted to guarantee that the four (4) At-Large members come from at least three (3) different regions. For example, if under this procedure there were already three (3) At-Large members from two (2) different regions, then the last member would be chosen among those Council members in the ballot who are not from these regions. Also, if only one (1) At-Large member were to be elected and the other three (3) members were from two (2) regions, Council members from these regions would not be on the ballot.
The President may appoint ad hoc committees to perform specific functions for the Econometric Society, such as to review procedures for electing Officers, Council, and/or Fellows. The Executive Committee should be informed of the purposes for which these committees are created and the names of the individuals who have been appointed. Ad hoc committees may also be appointed by the Executive Committee.
An Investment Committee advises the Executive Vice-President on the allocation of the Society’s funds. The Committee consists of the Executive Vice-President and two (2) Fellows appointed by the Executive Committee for a term of three (3) years, which can be renewed once. If a region requests a different portfolio allocation, the Executive Vice-President is responsible for approving and implementing it.
In 2009, the Executive Committee decided to create an Audit Committee to oversee the Society’s management, operations, and financial reporting. The Committee is chaired by the First Vice-President and includes a former President and a member of the Council appointed by the Executive Committee for a term of three (3) years, as well as the Second Vice-President.
In 2022, the Executive Committee decided to create a Fundraising Committee to coordinate and provide continuity to the initiatives of the Society in this respect. The Committee consists of the President, First Vice President, Executive Vice President and Executive Director (ex-officio members), and two (2) Fellows appointed by the Executive Committee for staggering terms of two (2) years, who will chair the committee during the second year of their tenure.
3.8. Committee for Supporting Professional Development
In 2024, the Executive Committee decided to create a Committee for Supporting Professional Development to develop and oversee initiatives designed to aid the professional development of economists world-wide, with special emphasis on young economists and those with more limited access to support networks. These initiatives may include but are not limited to mentoring arrangements, development of special sessions at regional meetings, and the development and circulation of resources aimed at providing guidance. The Committee, appointed by the President after consulting the Executive Committee, consists of a Chair and at least three other persons, preferably Fellows, representing a range of regions of the Society. Terms are three years, beginning January 1 of the relevant year, and can be renewed.
The central Society budget pays for travel and accommodation expenses of:
1. The President or his/her representative at the regional meetings (see Section 2.1.6), unless such funding is provided by the local organizers. Only economy class travel will be covered, except for flights of more than eight (8) hours, for which business class will be covered.
2. The members of the Executive Committee attending its scheduled meetings. Only economy class will be covered.
3.10. Confidentiality Statements
The proceedings of all committees are confidential unless expressly authorized to the contrary by the President, with the exception of redacted reports needed to keep the membership informed regarding actions of the Executive Committee and Council as appropriate. All members of committees appointed by the President or others will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement acknowledging that discussions within the committee and data revealed to the committee must remain confidential except where disclosure is required by law or explicitly authorized by the Executive Committee. The President at his/her discretion may waive this requirement for specific committees or individuals.
3.11. The Sonnenschein Service Prize
The Sonnenschein Service Prize is an award given to at most two (2) recipients each year in recognition of outstanding service to the profession and/or to the Econometric Society. The selection is made by a committee chaired by the President and consisting of the chairs of the six (6) Regional Standing Committees. The announcement of the prize will be made each year by April 1. At such time, the regional meeting where the award(s) will be presented to the recipient(s) will also be announced. The committee can choose not to present any award.
Section 4. Nomination and Election Procedures for Officers and Council
4.1. Nominating Committee for Officers and Council
The election of Officers and Council members is conducted annually. Only Active Fellows (see Section 1.2.2) are entitled to vote. The Nominating Committee for Officers and Council is in charge of the nomination of candidates for the vacant positions, except that the nomination of candidates for Executive Vice-President is done by the Executive Committee (the “Nominating Committee”). The only circumstances in which the Executive Committee can rule on nominations by the Nominating Committee are as described in Section 1.9.
The Nominating Committee consists of seven (7) members: the President, the First Vice-President, the Past President, and four (4) Council members from at least two (2) different regions appointed by the President after consulting the Executive Committee. At least two (2) of the four (4) Council members must not have served in the previous year. The Second Vice-President, the Executive Vice-President and the Editors of the Society journals cannot be members of the Nominating Committee. The Past President shall serve as Chair.
In addition to appointees chosen by the President, the Nominating Committee for Officers and Council shall include any Active Fellows of the Society nominated by petition of not less than 10 percent of the Active Fellows to be sent to the Executive Vice-President before January 31 of the corresponding year. No Fellow can petition for more than one (1) nominee. Once the Committee is formed, the names of all its members will be posted on the Society’s website.
The Nominating Committee for Officers and Council shall nominate one (1) candidate for President, one (1) candidate for First Vice-President, and two (2) candidates for Second Vice- President. The Executive Committee shall nominate one (1) candidate for Executive Vice-President whenever the position is vacant. The President may appoint an ad hoc committee to propose candidates for this office.
The candidate for President shall be the then-serving First Vice-President. The candidate for First Vice-President shall be the then-serving Second Vice-President. The candidates for Second Vice-President shall be Active Fellows and may not be from the same region as the previously elected Second Vice-President. If a candidate has two (2) substantial affiliations in two (2) different regions, the Nominating Committee can choose the region of affiliation for the purpose of nomination. Editors or Co-Editors of the Society journals cannot be candidates for Second Vice-President.
An additional nomination for Second Vice-President may be made by petition of not less than 15 percent of the Active Fellows to be sent to the Executive Vice-President no later than April 15 of the corresponding year. No Fellow can petition for more than one (1) nominee. The nominee must agree to run. Once the Committee is formed, the names of all its members will be posted on the Society’s website.
The following rules will apply if an Officer of the Society steps down, becomes unable to fulfill his or her duties, or is removed from office according to Section 1.4:
a. for the Executive Vice-President: the Past President will become acting Executive Vice-President and a new special election for Executive Vice-President will take place as soon as a candidate is selected by the Executive Committee.
b. for the current Past President: the previous Past President becomes acting Past President until the end of the year.
c. for the current President: the First Vice-President becomes acting President until the end of the year and President the following year. The current Past President continues as Past President one (1) additional year.
d. for the First Vice-President: the Second Vice-President becomes acting First Vice-President until the end of the year and First Vice-President the following year.
e: for the Second Vice-President: he or she will not be replaced. In the following elections a First Vice-President and a Second Vice-President will be elected from a list of two (2) candidates for each position proposed by the Nominating Committee.
In cases c, d, and e, the Past President will become the seventh Voting Executive Committee Member.
4.3. Election of Council Members
The Nominating Committee for Officers and Council shall nominate two (2) candidates for each vacant seat on the Council. If a candidate has two (2) substantial affiliations in two (2) different regions, the Nominating Committee can choose the region of affiliation for the purpose of nomination but must have the approval of the Regional Standing Committee for the region to be represented to use the candidate’s secondary affiliation. Nominees must be Active Fellows, except in the case of members of Regional Standing Committees elected by the Members of the Society in that region (see Section 6.1).
At least one (1) of the candidates for the Council from each region must currently be a voting member of the corresponding Regional Standing Committee elected by the Members of the Society in that region, unless all eligible candidates are already members of the Council.
An additional nomination for each vacant seat on the Council may be made by petition of not less than 15 percent of the Active Fellows to be sent to the Executive Vice-President no later than April 15 of the corresponding year. No Fellow can petition for more than one (1) nominee. The nominee must agree to run.
If a member of the Council makes a permanent move between regions, he/she will be considered as a Council member from the original region for the year after his/her move. The regional location will then be changed for the remainder of his/her term, and the number of open vacancies in the following year’s election will be adjusted to return the number of Council members from each region to the normal composition.
If a member of the Council is elected Second Vice-President, he/she resigns the Council seat. In that case, one (1) extra Council member must be elected from that region. If there are already two (2) candidates for one (1) seat in that region, both candidates will be elected; if there are six (6) candidates for three (3) seats, four (4) will be elected, and so on. When there are no candidates for that region, the Council seat remains vacant for one (1) year.
4.4. Procedures for the Election of Officers and Council Members
The nomination process is carried out by e-mail. The procedures are as follows:
1. January. The President appoints the members of the Nominating Committee, after consulting the Executive Committee and on the basis of information supplied by the Executive Vice-President relative to past service.
Once a Nominating Committee is appointed, the Nominating Committee receive from the Executive Vice-President information on the rules for nomination and election, together with lists of past nominees and successful candidates for all posts, as well as the list of the members with voting rights of the Regional Standing Committees elected by the Members of the Society in each region who are not already members of the Council.
2. January-April 15, Officers. The members of the Nominating Committee submit lists of suggestions for Second Vice-President to the Chair, with copies to the Executive Vice-President, who checks each suggested name for eligibility. All eligible candidates are listed on a first ballot, which is emailed to the members of the Nominating Committee. The order of the candidates will be randomized by selecting one (1) initial name from the list at random, followed by the rest of names in circulant alphabetical order (with A after Z). Each member of the Nominating Committee indicates the “approval” for each candidate that he/she supports and returns the ballot to the Chair. The Chair reports to the members of the Nominating Committee and to the Executive Vice-President the seven (7) candidates with the highest number of approval votes, who are then placed on a second ballot randomly ordered as in the first ballot, which is emailed to the members of the Nominating Committee. In the case of a tie for seventh place, all tied candidates will be included on the second ballot. Each member of the Nominating Committee rank-orders all candidates on the second ballot and returns the ballot to the Chair. The Chair reports to the members of the Nominating Committee and to the Executive Vice-President the sum of the ranks for each person on the second ballot. The candidate with the smallest rank sum is selected. Then, in a third ballot, the members of the Nominating Committee vote again in the same way, by rank-ordering the remaining candidates, to select the second candidate. If a selected candidate declines nomination, then the members of the Nominating Committee will repeat this rank-order voting procedure to select another nominee from those remaining among the candidates who were included in the second ballot. Ties in any of these ballots will be resolved by the Chair with reference to the first ballot and/or by further consultation with the members of the Nominating Committee. Alternatively, at the discretion of the Chair, the Society’s voting system may be used instead. In this case, the procedure is the same except that the Executive Vice-President will report the results to the Chair.
Notification of the nominees, and their acceptances, must be in writing. Their acceptances require filing the Self-Disclosure Form and its approval by the Executive Committee as described in Section 1.9. Nominees cannot make their acceptance contingent on the identity of their opponent, which will not be revealed to them until just before the election ballot is sent out to the Active Fellows. Candidates’ names will be kept confidential by the Nominating Committee and the candidates themselves until this moment.
3. January-April 15, Council. The members of the Nominating Committee submit lists of suggestions for Council members to the Chair, with copies to the Executive Vice-President, who checks each suggested name for eligibility. The Chair can use his/her discretion to limit the number of nominees who can be proposed by each member. All eligible candidates, together with the members of the Regional Standing Committees elected by the Members of the Society in each region who are not already members of the Council, are listed on a ballot randomly ordered within each region as in the case of the Second Vice-President’s ballots, which is emailed to the members of the Committee. Each member of the Nominating Committee rank-orders all candidates within each region and returns the ballot to the Chair. Candidates who are not sufficiently known to members of the Nominating Committee may be left unranked, except that to be eligible for nomination, a candidate must be ranked by at least three (3) members of the Nominating Committee. The Chair can use his/her discretion to conduct an extra round of balloting. The Chair reports to the members of the Nominating Committee and to the Executive Vice-President the sum of ranks for each candidate on the final ballot. In each region the candidates with the smallest rank sums are chosen, up to the required number of nominees from that region, taking into account the constraint that at least one (1) of the candidates for the Council from each region must be a voting member of the corresponding Regional Standing Committee elected by the Members of the Society in that region. In the case of a tie, all tied candidates will be included on a second ballot, which is emailed to the members of the Nominating Committee. If any of the nominees declines the nomination or is nominated for Second Vice-President, he/she will be replaced by the candidate with the smallest rank sum on the final ballot among those not yet chosen, or by the first runner-up candidate in the tie-breaking ordering. As in the case of Officer nominations, the Society’s voting system may be used instead. In this case, the procedure is the same except that the Executive Vice-President reports results at each round to the Chair.
Notification of the nominees, and their acceptances, must be in writing. Their acceptances require filing the Self-Disclosure Form and its approval by the Executive Committee as described in Section 1.9. Candidates’ names will be kept confidential by the Nominating Committee and the candidates themselves until just before the election ballot is sent out to the Active Fellows. The Executive Vice-President contacts all candidates to obtain their biographical information, with a deadline of no later than April 15.
4. April 15-June 30. Election ballots are prepared by the Executive Vice-President for distribution no later than September 15, with a voting deadline of September 30. Officers and Council members are elected by the Active Fellows, using rank-order voting (see Section 4.5). Ballots are counted by the Executive Vice-President, the President and the winners are notified, and the election outcome is posted on the Society’s website.
Rank-order voting is used throughout the process of nominating and electing Officers and Council, as well as for the election by the Council of At-Large members of the Executive Committee, with the single exception of the use of approval voting in the first ballot for Officers conducted by the Nominating Committee for Officers and Council.
Rank-order voting is conducted as follows: Let there be n candidates, so that each voter has N=1+2+. . .+n=n(n+1)/2 points to allocate. The most preferred candidate is ranked 1 and the least preferred candidate is ranked n. Candidates ranked equally share points equally. Candidates not ranked are considered to be ranked last, so that if k < n is the number of candidates explicitly ranked on a particular ballot, then each unranked candidate is assigned a rank of (n+k+1)/2, that is, they are considered to have “tied” for the median place in the missing ranks. For example, suppose there are five (5) candidates A, B, C, D, E (so that n=5 and N=15) and a voter that ranks A>B=C, leaving D and E unranked. Then, A gets 1, B and C share 2+3=5 so they get 2.5 each, and D and E share what is left (15-1-5)=9, so they get 4.5 each. The candidate(s) with the lowest total sum of points are the winners.
If after the election is completed several candidates share the same total sum of points, the electoral software will automatically perform an equally likely permutation of the tied candidates to determine their final order.
Section 5. Nomination and Election Procedures for Fellows
5.1. Nominating Committee for Fellows
The election of Fellows is conducted annually. Only Active Fellows (see Section 1.2.2) are entitled to vote. Candidates to become Fellows shall be nominated by General Members, Active Fellows, or by the Nominating Committee for Fellows (the “Fellows Nominating Committee”).
The Fellows Nominating Committee consists of seven (7) Active Fellows, at least three (3) of whom must be members of the Council with voting rights, but may include others with the goal of bringing a less senior and more diverse set of candidates to the committee’s attention. The Chair of the Fellows Nominating Committee must be a voting member of the Council. The Fellows Nominating Committee members are appointed by the President after consulting with the Executive Committee. The Fellows Nominating Committee must include members from at least four (4) different regions. No more than two (2) members of the Fellows Nominating Committee can serve for two (2) consecutive years.
To be eligible for nomination as a Fellow, a person must have published original contributions to economic theory or to such statistical, mathematical, or accounting analyses as have a definite bearing on problems in economics. To accept election as a Fellow, one must become a member of the Society (if not already a member) and file the Self-Disclosure Form as discussed in Section 1.9. As noted in that section, the Executive Committee may determine from the information in the Self-Disclosure Form that election cannot be accepted because the candidate is not qualified.
The nomination of candidates for Fellow is conducted online. Any Member can propose a candidate by filling in a nomination form and inviting endorsements from other Members at the website https://econballot.org. Submitting a nomination requires the nominator to certify that they do not know of any past behavior by the nominee that would violate the Code of Conduct. Instructions are posted on the website and sent to all Members by email. The deadline for submitting complete nominations, including endorsements, is no later than April 15. The Fellows Nominating Committee reviews the electronic nominations and decides on the candidates nominated in the current year endorsed by less than three (3) Fellows.
The Fellows Nominating Committee is expected to consider candidates who might have been overlooked, paying special attention to gender, diversity in geography, field and other attributes. In addition, the Fellows Nominating Committee should consult with the Regional Standing Committees for regional suggestions and in cases where a candidate has potential multiple affiliations.
The Fellows Nominating Committee can specify the regional affiliation of a nominee as different the region of his/her primary affiliation provided that the relevant Regional Standing Committee agrees to pre-approve a secondary affiliation in their region for that nominee if he/she is elected a Fellow. (Approval by the Regional Standing Committee is not needed for a nominee with an existing secondary affiliation in that region.) Decisions by the Regional Standing Committee to not grant such permission should be communicated to the FNC and motivated on the basis of the candidate’s ties to the region, not his/her suitability for being elected a Fellow.
The number of endorsements on the nomination form is limited to 10. If a candidate receives more than 10 endorsements, the initiator of the nomination is responsible for choosing the 10 to be listed. After the 10 names, the nomination form will contain the wording “plus n additional endorsements” where n is the total number of endorsements received minus 10. If one (1) or more Members and the Fellows Nominating Committee independently nominate a candidate, the nomination statement of the Members will prevail but the ballot form will also explicitly include “Nominated by the Fellows Nominating Committee.” The ballot must list the candidates by region in reverse order of the number of existing Active Fellows, quoting the number of Active Fellows in each region. Within each region, the order of the candidates must be randomized by selecting one (1) initial name from the list at random, followed by the rest of names in circulant alphabetical order (with A after Z). Any candidate nominated in the previous year’s election receiving at least 20% of the vote in that year will automatically appear on the ballot. The candidate will be listed as “nominated by X in year Y” where Y is the previous year.
New Fellows are elected by electronic vote of the Active Fellows. Each Active Fellow may vote for all the candidates that he/she wishes to be elected. There is no restriction on the number of candidates for whom Active Fellows can vote.
Elected candidates are those who have a total number of votes at least equal to 25 percent of the number of ballots submitted; results of between 24.50 and 24.99 are rounded up to 25. (A submitted ballot is counted even if it is empty.)
5.3. Procedures for the Fellows Nominating Committee
The nomination process is carried out by e-mail. The procedures are as follows:
1. January. The President appoints the members of the Fellows Nominating Committee and the Chair, on the basis of information supplied by the Executive Vice-President relative to past service. Once a Committee is formed, Committee members receive from the Executive Vice-President information on the rules for nomination and election, together with a current list of all Fellows, and a list of the candidates who did not get elected and runners-up (defined as those who received votes equal to 20 to 25 percent of the number of ballots returned) in recent years, and a list of non-Fellows who have published in Econometrica, and a list of individuals who received less than three (3) endorsements in the previous year.
2. January-April 15. The Fellows Nominating Committee discusses potential candidates and prepares a list of nominees, with the corresponding nomination statements. The Fellows Nominating Committee also solicits proposals from the Regional Standing Committees. The procedure to be used will be decided by the Chair. After April 15, the Committee reviews the electronic nominations and decides on the candidates nominated in the current year endorsed by less than three (3) Fellows. Throughout the Fellows Nominating Committee deliberations, the Fellows Nominating Committee members with a conflict of interest analogous to the ones in Section 8.6 below must recuse themselves from the relevant discussion and decisions.
3. April 15-June 30. Election ballots are prepared by the Executive Vice-President for distribution no later than September 15, with a voting deadline of September 30. Ballots are counted by the Executive Vice-President and the President, the new Fellows are notified, and the election outcome is posted on the Society’s website. Newly elected Fellows who are not Members of the Society are informed that their election is contingent on membership and completion of the Self-Disclosure Form.
Section 6. Regional Activities of the Society
6.1. Regional Standing Committees
Regional Standing Committees are responsible for the organization of the regional activities of the Society. They are chaired by the first member of the following list that resides in the region: the President, the First Vice-President, the Second Vice-President, and the Past President. If none of them resides in the region, the President shall appoint a Council member in the region to serve as Chair. These appointments are initially for one (1) year but they may be renewed provided they satisfy the previously stated conditions. Regional Standing Committees have at least five (5) members with voting rights, including the Council members from the region. At least two (2) members with voting rights are elected for a non-renewable four (4) year term in a ballot of the members of the region. Two (2) years off the Regional Standing Committee must elapse before a voting member may serve again in that capacity. Program Chairs, Local Arrangements Chairs, and regional officers such as Secretary and/or Treasurer are nonvoting members of the Regional Standing Committee, unless they are already elected members of the Council or the Standing Committee. In the event that a member of a Regional Standing Committee resigns from that committee or if there is a restructuring of a specific region, the Council may appoint other members to the applicable or newly established Regional Standing Committee.
Regional Standing Committees meet at the site of the corresponding regional meeting and also at World Congresses. The Secretary of the Standing Committee will send to the Executive Vice President an annual report on the activities of the Society in his/her region, which will be distributed to the Executive Committee.
Apart from regional meetings, Regional Standing Committees may consider any activities in the region that would further interaction among those interested in the objectives of the Society. The Secretary of the Standing Committee will be responsible for preparing an Aide Memoire with general guidelines for the organization of the activities of the Society in the region.
When there are one (1) or more vacancies of elected members of a Regional Standing Committee, between October 8 and October 22, the Members of the Society residing in the region nominate potential candidates through the Society’s web site. Then, the Committee acting as a nominating committee will choose, after consultation with the Executive Vice-President, a list of candidates equal to twice the number of vacancies, with final voting by all Members taking place on the Society’s web site between October 23-November 6. Candidates for these slots must be Members from the region or another region with a secondary affiliation to the region.
If there is no regional conference in year t-1, either because it was a World Congress year or because no local organizer could be found, the year t-2 Program Chairs should remain in the Regional Standing Committee, so that they can transfer their knowledge and experience to the next Program Chairs.
The Regional Standing Committee is responsible for establishing procedures for the organization of meetings in the region, choosing the dates and locations, the number of days the meeting should last, whether the meeting is to be held jointly with other Societies, as well as appointing the Program and Local Arrangements Chairs. These decisions should customarily be taken at least one (1) year and preferably two (2) years in advance, so that those responsible for future meetings have sufficient time to make the necessary arrangements.
Proposals to host a meeting should specify the physical facilities available for sessions, accommodation and meal arrangements, and social events, as well as an estimated budget that includes total costs and revenues. Regional meetings should be self-financing, as the Society does not underwrite any potential losses under any circumstances. Revenue sources are typically through fundraising, sponsorships, pre-authorized Society funds, publisher exhibits, and registration fees, whose level must be approved by the Regional Standing Committee.
The Program Chair(s) appoint the Program Committee and arrange the program as they see fit, subject to the constraints on the number of days and sessions. The sole criterion for acceptance of a paper shall be its scientific merit.
The corresponding author of any paper submitted to any of the regional meetings, World Congress, workshops, or schools must be a Member at the time the paper is submitted, and the same applies to any co-author who replaces the original submitter as corresponding author or presenter. These membership requirements must be prominently displayed in the Call for Papers for each meeting. At the discretion of the Executive Committee, for special interdisciplinary conferences, this requirement may be waived for submissions from disciplines outside the traditional areas of the Econometric Society broadly defined.
If there is a meeting of Active Fellows and/or General Members, it will be chaired by the President or the person that he/she designates.
Any award by another Society to be presented at a regional meeting must be approved by the Program Chair(s) and communicated to the Chair of the Standing Committee.
The Standing Committee is responsible for sending meeting announcements at least one (1) year in advance to the Executive Director of the Society to be posted on the Society’s website and transmitted to the membership by email. The Local Arrangements Chair collaborates with the Program Chair(s) to arrange meeting websites, which should be linked to the “Future Meetings” section of the Society’s website.
Within six (6) months from completion of the meeting, the Local Arrangement Chair(s) is expected to send a detailed written report to the Regional Standing Committee and the Executive Vice President about the local arrangements, and include in it the final accounts with itemized revenues and expenses, and the conference net income. Simultaneously, the Scientific Committee Chair(s) is expected to send a separate written report covering plenary, invited, and contributed sessions, as well as the selection process used. Those reports will be filed in the Central office and shared with the Chairs of the Scientific Committee and Local Arrangements of the following edition of the meeting to provide continuity in planning.
The chair of the Regional Standing Committee, together with the regional officers, holds the responsibility for informing the Central Office of the agreed division of the conference net income between the local organizers, the Society and other possible partner associations, and ensuring that those final reports and 10% of any positive surplus corresponding to the Society are received by Central office on time.
Regional Standing Committees will ascertain that all members may enter and exit the country location. If this is not the case, the Regional Standing Committee must request an exemption from the Council.
As an international organization of scientists, the Society shall not take a stand on the political acts of any government and must not be used to legitimize any people or institutions. Persons who hold official positions in the Society shall not use their positions as vehicles for political pronouncements. Such persons who speak on an occasion provided by his/her official position shall limit his/her remarks to matters relevant to his/her responsibilities.
For those rare occasions in which the Society may wish to act on behalf of one (1) of its Members or in pursuit of its scholarly activities, the general rule shall be that a formal Executive Committee decision must be taken and the action shall be through official channels.
The location of a regional meeting must be chosen in such a way that its primary scientific objective will be reached. Political considerations should not be relevant. Once a paper has been accepted for presentation, the Local Arrangements Chair, the Program Chair(s), and the Chair of the Standing Committee will try to facilitate the author’s participation in the meeting. They may, if appropriate, contact the suitable authorities. In making such efforts, they shall bear in mind the preceding paragraphs.
Each year, a non-European Member is invited to give a lecture at the European Summer Meeting or, in World Congress years, at the World Congress. In years without a World Congress, the lecturer is appointed one (1) year in advance by the Program Chair(s) of the meeting. In World Congress years, the lecturer is appointed by the World Congress Main Lectures Committee. The travel and accommodation expenses of the lecturer are paid by the budget of the corresponding European Summer Meeting or World Congress.
Each year, a non-North American Member is invited to give a lecture at the North American Summer Meeting or, in World Congress years, at the World Congress. In years without a World Congress, the lecturer is appointed one (1) year in advance by a committee that consists of the Program Chair of the meeting concerned and two (2) members (one (1) to be the Chair of the committee) appointed by the Chair of the North American Standing Committee. In World Congress years, the lecturer is appointed by the World Congress Main Lectures Committee. The travel and accommodation expenses of the lecturer are paid by the budget of the corresponding North American Summer Meeting or World Congress.
Each year other than World Congress years, the Society’s Marschak Fund supports a Jacob Marschak lecture, the location of which rotates among the regional meetings held outside North America and Europe. The lecturer is appointed one (1) year in advance by the Program Chair(s) of the meeting after consulting with the Executive Vice President of the Society.
The travel, accommodation, and registration expenses of the lecturer are consistent with the terms offered to the President, with an upper limit of $4,000. Those costs are usually paid by the Marschak Fund but may be paid out of the Society’s general fund as needed. The Executive Committee decides the location of the lectures.
In 2006, the Executive Committee agreed to support with up to $4,000 a lecture at regional meetings outside Europe and North America with no Marschak lecture but with exactly the same conditions stated in section 6.6. In particular, the lecturer is appointed one (1) year in advance by the Program Chair(s) of the meeting after consulting with the Executive Vice-President of the Society. The Regional Standing Committee may choose to name the lecture (e.g., the Hurwicz lecture).
Each year other than World Congress years, the Society organizes six (6) series of lectures: the Blackwell-Robinson Omnibus Lectures, the Griliches Lectures in Applied Economics, the Hotelling Lectures in Economic Theory, the Lewis-Ostrom Lectures in Applied Economics, the Lucas-Modigliani Lectures in Macroeconomics and Finance, and the Sargan Lectures in Econometrics. The lectures present an overview of a topic in which the lecturers have done significant research. They are typically above PhD level, but not necessarily at the research frontier. Attendance is open to all Members of the Society. The lecturers are encouraged to submit their lectures to the Econometric Society Monograph Series.
The lecturers are proposed by a Lecture Series Committee appointed by the President. The Committee is chaired by a former President and includes up to five (5) additional Members of the Society. Their appointments, which cover three (3) selection processes, are staggered to provide some continuity. In addition, the two (2) editors of the Monograph Series are ex-officio members but they do not have voting rights. In the spring of year t, the Lecture Series Committee will propose the lecturers for the year t+2. The lectures rotate among the regional meetings, so that over six (6) non-World Congress years, each region has each lecture series once. The lectures normally take place right before or after those meetings in three (3) sessions of 1.5-2 hours each. The Executive Committee agreed to provide support of up to $4,000 per lecture series for regions other than Europe and North America.
Begun in 2013, this is a high profile plenary session representing an area of mutual research interest to the Econometric Society and the Cowles Foundation. Each year the Director of the Cowles Foundation will appoint a member of the Cowles research staff to select, along with the North American Summer Meeting program chair (or the World Congress program chair during World Congress years), a speaker to give the Cowles Lecture at the meeting (or World Congress). The selection of speakers should typically rotate across the four (4) core research program areas of the Cowles Foundation: econometrics, economic theory, macroeconomics, and structural microeconomics. The speaker will be introduced at the lecture by a representative of the Cowles Foundation.
6.9. Schools and Workshops Committee
The mission of this Standing Committee is to guide, approve and evaluate Summer/Winter Schools, Workshops and related activities for young scholars sponsored by the Society, and to allocate funds to them in accordance to the guidelines approved by the Executive Committee. It consists of a chair and two (2) additional members representing different regions and fields appointed by the Executive Committee for staggered three (3) year terms.
The aim of the activities for young scholars sponsored by the Society is to help build research capacity in areas defined geographically or by subject where participants have limited exposure to methods, outstanding teachers and researchers. They typically feature lectures providing an overview of recent developments at the research frontier or training in skills for high quality research, as well as opportunities for participants to receive feedback and mentoring advice, and to interact with one another, including contributed sessions by young scholars.
All applicants to Schools and related activities for young scholars must be Members of the Society at the time of application.
6.10. Grants for Young Economists
Every year since 2004, the Executive Committee provides grants to regions for activities involving “young economists.” The Regional Standing Committees decide on the allocation of the grants, which may be used to fund expenses of young economists presenting papers at the regional meetings, special sessions and prizes for young economists at these meetings, or other initiatives for young scholars vetted by the Executive Vice President.
7.1. Procedures for the Organization of World Congresses
The Executive Committee appoints an Organization Committee for the World Congress that will take place in year t. The Committee is chaired by the Vice-President who will be President at the time of the World Congress, so it will be appointed at the beginning of year t-2 when the identity of this person is known (i.e., in January 2023 for the 2025 World Congress).
The responsibilities of the Organization Committee are to propose to the Executive Committee the Program Chair and Co-Chairs and the Main Lectures Committee according to the following sequential procedure. During the first half of year t-2, the Organization Committee will prepare an ordered list of candidates for main Program Chair. The Executive Committee would discuss the candidates in the list and take a decision on the order of the offers. Once the main Program Chair accepts, (s) he would join the Organization Committee, taking the initiative in making proposals for the number and identities of the Program Co-Chairs. The Organization Committee will take into consideration not only the areas covered by the different Co-Chairs, but also the need for diversity in terms of geography and other attributes. At its winter meeting in year t-1 at the latest, but preferably in the summer of year t-2, the Executive Committee will discuss the proposed Program Co-Chairs and decide on the order and composition of the offers.
The Main Lectures Committee consists of the Chair of the Organization Committee, the Program Chair and Co-Chairs, and an experienced additional member appointed by the Organization Committee. The Main Lectures Committee selects the Fisher-Schultz, Walras-Bowley, and Frisch Memorial lecturers. The Committee also selects a speaker to give the Cowles Lecture in agreement with a representative of the Cowles Foundation. These four (4) lectures, along with the Presidential Address, constitute the main lectures for the Congress. The Committee must respect the geographical constraints on the selection of the Fisher-Schultz and Walras-Bowley lecturers, and should pay attention to the need to avoid imbalance by field or region in the overall slate of main lectures. The maximum for World Congress speaker travel and accommodations is set at $4,000 per speaker.
The Program Chair and Co-Chairs appoint the Program Committee and arrange the program as they see fit, subject to the constraints on the number of days and sessions. The sole criterion for acceptance of a paper shall be its scientific merit.
The Program Chair and Co-Chairs automatically become the editors of the volumes of World Congress invited papers that appear subsequently in the Monograph Series. They have full authority to negotiate the inclusion and/or placement of special lectures (e.g., the “Shanghai Lecture”) and of invited papers in the volumes.
The Active Fellows and the Council meet at the site of the World Congresses.
The Local Arrangements Chair collaborates with the Program Chair(s) to arrange the World Congress website, which should be linked to the “Future Meetings” section of the Society’s website. Within six (6) months from the World Congress, both the Program Chair(s) and Local Arrangements Chair is expected to send detailed reports on the meetings to the Executive Vice President, covering plenary, invited and contributed sessions, and final accounts with itemized revenues and expenses, respectively.
Begun in 1975, the Frisch Memorial Lecture is given at each World Congress. The lecturer is to represent, at least in spirit, the kind of work done by Ragnar Frisch and, in any case, is to be presented by a distinguished economist, such as a Nobel Prize winner. The lecturer is chosen by the World Congress Main Lectures Committee, and the letter of invitation is written by the President. The travel and accommodation expenses of the lecturer are included in the budget of the World Congress, and are consistent with the terms offered to the President.
Econometrica publishes original articles in all branches of economics, theoretical and empirical, abstract and applied, providing wide-ranging coverage across the subject area. Supplemental material, such as data and computer programs to enable replication of empirical and experimental work, is published electronically on the journal’s website.
Econometrica also publishes the list of newly elected Fellows with selected bibliographies, and the annual reports of the President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Editors of Econometrica, QE, and TE, and the Editors of the Monograph Series.
The entire contents of Econometrica with a lag of two (2) years can be searched and downloaded through JSTOR by anyone whose institution is a member of JSTOR.
Editorial control of Econometrica rests in the hands of the Editor and a small number of Co-Editors. The Editor in consultation with the Co-Editors appoints a panel of Associate Editors for terms of three (3) years in order to assist them in their task. Associate Editors are required to abide by the Code of Conduct. Failure to do so may lead to removal by the Editor or the Executive Committee as discussed in Section 1.9.
The Executive Director is responsible for the publication of annual reports, together with a list of Fellows (every five (5) years) and bibliographies of new Fellows (every year), and for the sale of advertising in the back of the journal.
Editors and Co-Editors shall be appointed by the Executive Committee following the procedure described in Section 8.7. The initial term for the Editor and the Co-Editors will be four (4) years, and the appointments are staggered. The Executive Committee may approve two (2) year extensions for Editors and, if endorsed by the Editor, for Co-Editors. In rare cases, the Executive Committee may also decide on extensions longer or shorter than two (2) years. Under no circumstances may an individual serve as Co-Editor and Editor of Econometrica for more than eight (8) years in total regardless of whether those years are consecutive or not. In computing the total service of an individual for purposes of this limit, fractional years of strictly less than six (6) months are rounded down and six (6) months or more rounded up.
To submit either an original manuscript or a revision to Econometrica, the corresponding author must be a Member of the Society.
8.2. Publication of Invited Lectures and Presidential Addresses in Econometrica
The invitation to deliver the Fisher-Schultz and the Walras-Bowley lectures is also an invitation to submit a suitable version of the lecture to Econometrica within 18 months of their delivery. The Editors of Econometrica recognize the obligation to publish these submissions, but reserve the right to make editorial suggestions and, if necessary, to enforce limitations on length. The Editors have the authority to require authors to make changes in response to their suggestions and to referee suggestions that they consider reasonable, as long as these suggestions are not connected to opinions expressed by the author.
These provisions also apply to the Presidential Address, where submission is within 18 months of the end of the President’s term. The published versions of these three (3) submissions will be titled with the name of the relevant lecture and an appropriate subtitle. For example, a Presidential Address will be titled in the form “Presidential Address: A Subtitle.”
The Editors have the obligation to review and the right to make suggestions regarding the submitted version of the Presidential Address.
In contrast to these three (3) submissions, the Editors of Econometrica have no obligation to publish the Marschak or the Frisch Memorial lectures. If submitted to Econometrica, they will be treated and, if accepted, titled as any other submission, and refereed accordingly.
Invitations for these lectures are invitations to individuals, and lectures appear on the program as given by single individuals. Regarding publication, co-authored papers will be treated in the same manner as single-authored papers, adding a reference in the published paper that it was presented as an invited lecture by the corresponding author. The same provision applies to the Presidential Address.
First awarded in 1978, the Frisch Medal is presented biennially for the best applied (empirical or theoretical) paper published in Econometrica in any of the volumes corresponding to the four (4) calendar years immediately preceding the year in which the award is made. The purpose of the Frisch Medal is to encourage the submission to Econometrica of high quality empirical and applied work. At the beginning of the relevant year, the president will form a prize committee in consultation with the editor of Econometrica that normally consists of six (6) members appointed to serve for two (2) consecutive editions of the prize, three (3) of whom will be returning members and three (3) new ones. The committee normally includes one (1) or two (2) previous Frisch Medal winners, one (1) of whom may be chosen to chair the committee. The committee chooses the prize recipient, but the editor and co-editors of Econometrica are expected to provide input. Committee members with a conflict of interest analogous to the ones in Section 8.6 below should recuse themselves from the relevant deliberations. Current Co-Editors or the Editor of Econometrica and current Officers of the Econometric Society are not eligible for the prize. A Co-Editor, Editor, or Officer is “current” if they serve at any time during the calendar year of the prize up until it is awarded.
First awarded in 2024, the Arrow Prize is presented biennially for the best paper in economic theory published in Econometrica in any of the volumes corresponding to the four (4) calendar years immediately preceding the year in which the award is made. The purpose of the Arrow Prize is to encourage the submission to Econometrica of high quality theoretical work. At the beginning of the relevant year, the president will form a prize committee in consultation with the editor of Econometrica that normally consists of six (6) members appointed to serve for two (2) consecutive editions of the prize, three (3) of whom will be returning members and three (3) new ones. The committee normally includes one (1) or two (2) previous Arrow Prize winners, one (1) of whom may be chosen to chair the committee. The committee chooses the prize recipient, but the editor and co-editors of Econometrica are expected to provide input. Committee members with a conflict of interest analogous to the ones in Section 8.8 below must recuse themselves from the relevant deliberations. Current Co-Editors or the Editor of Econometrica and current Officers of the Econometric Society are not eligible for the prize. A Co-Editor, Editor, or Officer is “current” if they serve at any time during the calendar year of the prize up until it is awarded.
First awarded in 2024, the Haavelmo Prize is presented biennially for the best paper in econometrics published in Econometrica in any of the volumes corresponding to the four (4) calendar years immediately preceding the year in which the award is made. The purpose of the Haavelmo Prize is to encourage the submission to Econometrica of high quality work in econometrics. At the beginning of the relevant year, the president will form a prize committee in consultation with the editor of Econometrica that normally consists of six (6) members appointed to serve for two (2) consecutive editions of the prize, three (3) of whom will be returning members and three (3) new ones. The committee normally includes one (1) or two (2) previous Haavelmo Prize winners, one (1) of whom may be chosen to chair the committee. The committee chooses the prize recipient, but the editor and co-editors of Econometrica are expected to provide input. Committee members with a conflict of interest analogous to the ones in Section 8.8 below must recuse themselves from the relevant deliberations. Current Co-Editors or the Editor of Econometrica and current Officers of the Econometric Society are not eligible for the prize. A Co-Editor, Editor, or Officer is “current” if they serve at any time during the calendar year of the prize up until it is awarded.
8.6. Quantitative Economics (QE) and Theoretical Economics (TE)
QE is an open access journal oriented towards empirical research that is rigorously informed by econometrics and/or economic theory and econometric and theory work that is empirically directed.
TE is an open access journal that publishes both pure and applied theoretical research in all fields of economics. Papers may contain empirical and experimental results, but need to have a substantial and innovative theoretical component.
Editorial control of each of these journals rests in the hands of the Editor and a small number of Co-Editors. The Editor in consultation with the Co-Editors appoints a panel of Associate Editors for terms of three (3) years in order to assist them in their task. Associate Editors are required to abide by the Code of Conduct. Failure to do so may lead to removal by the Editor of the respective journal or the Executive Committee as discussed in Section 1.9.
Editors and Co-Editors shall be appointed by the Executive Committee following the procedure described in Section 8.9. The initial term for the Editor and the Co-Editors will be four (4) years, and the appointments are staggered. The Executive Committee may approve two (2) year extensions for Editors and, if endorsed by the Editor, for Co-Editors. In rare cases, the Executive Committee may also decide on extensions longer or shorter than two (2) years. Under no circumstances may an individual serve as Co-Editor and Editor of QE or TE for more than eight (8) years in total regardless of whether those years are consecutive or not. In computing the total service of an individual for purposes of this limit, fractional years of strictly less than six (6) months are rounded down and six (6) months or more rounded up.
To submit either an original manuscript or a revision QE or TE, the corresponding author must be a Member of the Society. At the discretion of the Executive Committee, for special interdisciplinary issues of QE or TE, this requirement may be waived for submissions from disciplines outside the traditional areas of the Econometric Society broadly defined.
8.7. Best Paper Award for QE and TE
The purpose of the best paper award is to encourage high quality submissions to QE and TE. The award, which shall be made to a single paper, will be made each year on an alternating basis for QE and TE. The eligible set consists of papers published in either QE or TE (depending on the rotation) in any of the volumes corresponding to the two (2) calendar years immediately preceding the year in which the award is made. At the beginning of the relevant year, the president will form a prize committee in consultation with the relevant journal editor that normally consists of six (6) members appointed to serve for two (2) consecutive editions of the prize, three (3) of whom will be returning members and three (3) new ones. Each cohort normally includes a former editor or coeditor of the relevant journal, one (1) of whom may be chosen to chair the committee. The committee chooses the prize recipient, but the editor and co-editors of the relevant journal are expected to provide input. Committee members with a conflict of interest analogous to the ones in Section 8.8 below must recuse themselves from the relevant deliberations. The committee reserves the right not to make an award if it feels that there is no paper of sufficient standing to merit recognition. Current Co-Editors or the Editor of the relevant journal and current Officers of the Econometric Society are not eligible for the prize. A Co-Editor, Editor, or Officer is “current” if they serve at any time during the calendar year of the prize up until it is awarded.
Any Editor, Co-Editor, Associate Editor, or Data Editor of the Society’s journals and monograph series will not handle papers of their current colleagues, their thesis advisors, their active co-authors, and students for whom they were the main advisor. In addition, they will not handle the paper of any person they advised in a less formal way if the paper is either submitted within two (2) years of the person’s graduation or contains work from the time the person was a student. Finally, they will not have access to the referee reports or names of referees for papers written by authors with whom they have at least one (1) of the conflict issues described in this paragraph.
For the purposes of this special conflict of interest policy, a person is a “colleague” of an Editor, Co-Editor, Associate Editor, or Data Editor if he or she is (a) a member of the same permanent department (even if he or she has other part time positions), or (b) a member of a different department at the same university, or (c) a member of a department the Editor, Co-Editor, Associate Editor, or Data Editor is visiting, except that cases (b) and (c) exclude people with whom the Editor, Co-Editor, Associate Editor, or Data Editor has no collegial interaction. Students advised “in a less central way” include those for whom the Editor, Co-Editor, Associate Editor, or Data Editor wrote a letter of recommendation.
For the purposes of this policy, a person is an “active co-author” of an Editor/Co-Editor if he/she is a co-author on a paper currently in progress and/or under review or revision or on a paper published less than two years previously.
8.9. Appointment of new Editors and Co-Editors of Econometrica, QE, and TE and extensions
The appointment of a new Editor is carried out by the Executive Committee at least one (1) year before the end of his/her term. It is based on the proposal of a committee appointed at least 18 months before the end of his/her term. The committee is chaired by the President for the year when the Editor’s term expires and consisting as well of two (2) or more additional members appointed by the President. The current Editor is expected to be consulted by the committee. Suggestions of candidates will be solicited from the membership by email.
The appointment of new Co-Editors is carried out by the Executive Committee at least one (1) year before the end of their term. It is based on the proposal of a committee formed by the Editor in consultation with the President. The committee will take into consideration the coverage of the papers handled by the departing Co-Editor as well as the need for a diversity of fields and regions.
In deciding on extensions, the Executive Committee will take into consideration the diversity of intellectual views over time, current needs in submission portfolio management, the maintenance of high editorial quality standards, and not allowing the time commitments of co editorial appointment to become too high. A search committee need not be formed when deciding on extensions.
Both Editors and Co-Editors must abide by the Society Code of Conduct. Failure to do so may result in their being removed from their editorial positions by the Executive Committee, as discussed in Section 1.9.
The Data Editor is responsible for verifying the reproducibility of the empirical and numerical results in the papers to appear in Econometrica, Quantitative Economics, and Theoretical Economics prior to their final acceptance. The initial term for the Data Editor will be four (4) years, with the possibility of renewal.
The appointment of a new Data Editor is carried out by the Executive Committee at least one (1) year before the beginning of his/her term. It is based on the proposal of a committee formed by the Econometric Society Editors in consultation with the President at least 18 months before the beginning of his/her term.
The Data Editor must abide by the Society Code of Conduct. Failure to do so may result in removal by the Executive Committee.
The Monograph Series promotes the publication at relatively low prices of the highest quality research monographs in economics. The Series also publishes the volumes of invited papers presented at the World Congresses.
The Monograph Series has two (2) Co-Editors appointed by the Executive Committee for a term of five (5) years that can be renewed once. The Co-Editors solicit manuscripts and arrange for them to be refereed. The decision to publish a monograph in the Series rests solely in the hands of the Co-Editors.
To submit a paper to the Monograph Series, the corresponding author must be a Members of the Society.
Members can purchase the Monographs with a discount of 40 percent. They also have free online access to the Monographs. The terms and conditions of use allow Members to search and view individual chapters for personal use only. They may make copies, printed or otherwise, of one (1) chapter or up to five (5) percent of the pages from each monograph.
The Co-Editors are required to abide by the Code of Conduct. Failure to do so may result in their being removed from their editorial positions by the Executive Committee.
