American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 2015, 105(5): 683–688 http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.15000009

Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee Chicago, IL April 17, 2014

The first meeting of the 2014 Executive Charles I. Jones, Rachel Kranton, and Fiona Committee was called to order at 10:00 am on Scott Morton. The Nominating Committee and April 17, 2014 in the Heathrow A-B Room of the Executive Committee, acting together as the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Hotel, Chicago, IL. an electoral college, then VOTED to nominate Members present were: David Card, Dora Costa, Robert Shiller as President-elect, and VOTED Esther Duflo by phone , Steven Durlauf, Amy to recognize Robert Barro, Gregory Chow, Finkelstein, Pinelopi( Goldberg,) Claudia Goldin, Robert J. Gordon, and Richard Zeckhauser as Guido Imbens, Anil Kashyap, Jonathan Levin, Distinguished Fellows of the Association. The N. Gregory Mankiw, Rosa Matzkin, William President requested that the Secretary-Treasurer Nordhaus, Andrew Postlewaite, Peter Rousseau, revise the guidelines provided to the committee Matthew Shapiro, Christopher Sims, and Richard to reflect current practices more closely. Thaler. Alan Auerbach, Judith Chevalier, Henry Report of the Committee on Honors and Farber, and Jonathan Skinner participated in part Awards Auerbach . Auerbach explained that of the meeting and Andrew Abel, Susan Athey, nominations( for the) — Clark Medal were solic- and David Laibson participated by phone as ited from economics department heads of major members of the Honors and Awards Committee. research universities. The Honors and Awards Orley Ashenfelter participated in part of the Committee Auerbach chair , Abel, Athey, meeting as chair of the Nominating Committee. Chevalier, Farber,( Laibson,[ and] Skinner also Nancy Rose participated by phone as a member examined lists of eligible scholars to )insure of the Nominating Committee and as chair of that no viable candidate was overlooked. After the Ad Hoc Committee on Job Market Systems an extensive discussion of the importance and and Implementation. Assistant Secretary- likely lasting effects of the research contribu- Treasurer John Siegfried and General Counsel tions of candidates, the Honors and Awards Terry Calvani also attended. Committee and Executive Committee members, Nordhaus thanked past President Claudia acting together as an electoral college, VOTED Goldin for her service and presented her with to award the 2014 John Bates Clark Medal to a certificate recognizing her as a Distinguished Matthew Gentzkow. Fellow of the Association. He welcomed the Report of the Audit Committee Kashyap . newly elected members of the 2014 Executive The Audit Committee Kashyap (chair , Costa,) — Committee: Richard Thaler, President-elect; and Levin met with the( Association’s[ auditors,] David Card and N. Gregory Mankiw, Vice- Frasier, Dean,) and Howard, by teleconference on Presidents; and Dora Costa and Guido Imbens. March 12, 2014. The committee concluded there The minutes of the January 2, 2014 meeting are no material difficulties with the Association’s of the Executive Committee were approved as accounting procedures or financial controls. The written. auditors reported a clean audit to the committee. Report of the Nominating Committee Acting on the recommendation of the commit- Ashenfelter . Ashenfelter, who chaired the tee, it was VOTED to accept the audit for 2013. Committee( )consisting— also of Susan Collins, Report of the Advisory Committee on Steven Davis,( Paul Milgrom, Nancy Rose, Editorial Appointments Matzkin . Matzkin James Smith, Michael Woodford, and Gary led a discussion on the appointment( ) — of unten- Yohe , reported nominations for the indicated ured assistant professors to the editorial boards offices) in 2014: Vice-President—Ben Bernanke, of the Association’s journals. She noted that Bengt Holmstrom, David Romer, and Cecilia the committee has persistently discouraged Rouse; Executive Committee—David Autor, such appointments, and asked if a more formal 683 684 AEA PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS MAY 2015

­guideline would be helpful. After some discus- nize complete sessions using the Association’s sion, there was agreement that such appoint- ­Econ-Harmony website. Thaler announced that ments should continue to be considered on a Raj Chetty will deliver the 2015 Ely Lecture, case by case basis, but that the committee should that there would be a continued presence of in general be sensitive to overburdening junior poster sessions to encourage additional partici- faculty by appointing them to editorial boards. pation on the AEA program, and that a special Report of the Committee on the Status of panel featuring talks by leading researchers on a Women in the Economics Profession Rousseau specific theme was in the planning stages. for Marjorie McElroy .—Rousseau reviewed( a Report of the Editor of the American request from the committee) to increase funding Economic Review Goldberg .—Acting on the for the Association’s biannual regional men- Editor’s recommendation,( it) was VOTED to toring workshops by $10,000 per year, and to reappoint Marianne Bertrand and Debraj Ray increase the stipend of the regional workshop to second three-year terms as Coeditors of the coordinator by $3,000. He explained that the AER ending in June 2017, and to reappoint Luigi first adjustment was needed to bring the bud- Pistaferri to a second three-year term as Coeditor geted amount in line with actual costs of the ending in December 2017. It was also VOTED regional workshops, and the second to provide to reappoint Craig Burnside, Dirk Engelmann, adequate compensation to the coordinator for Navin Kartik, Gilat Levy, Jonathan Parker, Jesse the work required to deliver high-quality work- Rothstein, Rajiv Sethi, and Sarah Turner to sec- shops. After some discussion it was VOTED to ond three-year terms on the Board of Editors accept the committee’s requests. and to appoint Roland Fryer, Katherine Ho, and Report of the Committee on the Status of Edward Schlee to initial three-year terms, all Minority Groups in the Economics Profession ending in March 2017, and to appoint Jeffrey Rousseau for Cecilia Rouse .—Rousseau Ely to an initial three-year term starting in (reported on a request for proposal) RFP pre- January 2015 and ending in December 2017. pared by the committee seeking a host( for) the Report of the Editor of the Journal of AEA Summer Program starting in 2016. He Economic Literature Durlauf .—Durlauf noted that the committee had extended the reported that the JEL was (operating) smoothly current contract with the University of New following the transition to his leadership in Mexico one additional year, through summer 2013, and that a number of interesting articles 2015. The RFP for 2016 and forward includes a and 23 book reviews had been commissioned for two-tier program fundamental and advanced , appearance in forthcoming issues. a longer eight or( nine weeks program, and) Report of the Editor of the Journal of anticipates( higher enrollments )perhaps reach- Economic Perspectives Rousseau for David ing a steady state of around 40( . The commit- Autor .—Acting on Autor’s( recommendation, tee authorized the Secretary-Treasurer) to offer it was) VOTED to appoint Gordon Hanson to up to $300,000 as the Association’s contribu- an initial three-year term as Coeditor of the tion to the program, but requested that this be JEP beginning in January 2015 and ending in contingent on locating other external funding, December 2017. probably from a private foundation. It was also Report of the Editor of the American Economic noted that appointing a well-qualified director Journal: Applied Economics Duflo .—Duflo for the program is central to performing fol- announced that the winner (of the) fourth low-up functions such as assisting with place- annual best paper prize for the AEJ: Applied is ments of participants. Pascaline Dupas for “Do Teenagers Respond to 2015 Program Thaler .—Thaler announced HIV Risk Information? Evidence from a Field that he had appointed( a) Program Committee Experiment in Kenya” January 2011 . Acting of 17 economists, and that about 415 complete on Duflo’s recommendation,( it was VOTED) to sessions and 1,350 individual papers had been reappoint Aimee Chin and Alan Sorenson to submitted for the 2015 AEA meetings program. second three-year terms on the Board of Editors The due date for submissions of individual of AEJ: Applied ending in December 2017; papers was April 1, and the due date for com- Gordon Dahl, Gordon Hanson, and Dean Karlan plete sessions was April 15 to provide more time to third and final three-year terms on the Board for prospective program participants to orga- ending in June 2017; and Abhijit Banerjee and VOL. 105 NO. 5 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 685

Raymond Fisman to third and final three-year schedule if the system is to be implemented for terms on the Board ending in December 2017. the 2014–2015 job market. It was agreed that Report of the Editor of the American Economic the current version of JOE would continue to Journal: Economic Policy Shapiro .— be used as a back-up if necessary. The IT staff Shapiro announced that the winners( of )the would also set up accounts for a set of alpha fourth annual best paper prize for AEJ: Policy testers, including interested members of the are Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukhtankar for Executive Committee. “Corruption Dynamics: The Golden Goose Report on Session Allocations at ASSA Effect” November 2013 . Acting on Shapiro’s Meetings Nordhaus and Rousseau .—Rousseau recommendation,( it was) VOTED to appoint reviewed session( attendance counts) for the AEA Leemore Dafny to an initial three-year term and and the 55 other societies that convene at the to reappoint Robert Feenstra to a third and final ASSA meetings. He reported that an advisory three-year term on the Board of Editors of AEJ: committee consisting of the six founding soci- Policy ending in June 2017. eties of the ASSA Agricultural and Applied Report of the Editor of the American Economic Economics Association;( American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics Rousseau for John Association; American Finance Association; Leahy .—Rousseau announced( that the winners Association for Social Economics; Econometric of the )fourth annual best paper prize for AEJ: Society; and Labor and Employment Relations Macro are Michael Elsby and Ryan Michaels Association along with three rotating member for “Marginal Jobs, Heterogeneous Firms, and societies meets) on the final day of ASSA each Unemployment Flows” January 2013 . Acting year to review attendance and make recommen- on Leahy’s recommendation,( it was VOTED) to dations to the AEA for adjusting allocations and appoint Mark Bils, Francesco Buera, Andrea admitting new societies to ASSA. Rousseau Eisfeldt, and Tao Zha to initial three-year terms reviewed actions recommended for 2014 and on the Board of Editors of AEJ: Macro, and to opened discussion of session allocations more reappoint Yongsong Chang and James Hamilton generally. The Executive Committee accepted to third and final three-year terms on the Board, the advisory committee’s recommendations for all ending in June 2017. 2014, and requested that the Secretary-Treasurer Report of the Editor of the American Economic pursue additional reductions in sessions for Journal: Microeconomics Postle­waite .— groups with low attendance, and in particu- Postlewaite announced that the( winners of) the lar that the Labor and Employment Relations fourth annual best paper prize for AEJ: Micro Association be approached about reducing its are Susan Athey, Dominic Coey, and Jonathan number of sessions significantly given that it Levin for “Set-Asides and Subsidies in Auctions” now holds a separate annual meeting outside of February 2013 . Acting on Postlewaite’s rec- ASSA. ommendation,( it) was VOTED to appoint John Survey of AEA Members and ASSA Attendees Asker to an initial three-year term as Coeditor of in 2014 Nordhaus and Rousseau .—Rousseau AEJ: Micro starting September 2014 and ending presented( and summarized the 1,499) responses in August 2017. received to the 2014 Annual Meetings sur- Report of Ad Hoc Committee on Job Market vey 744 from AEA members and 755 from Systems and Implementation Rose .— non-members( . The respondents ranked San Referring to her written report, Rose( provided) Diego, San Francisco,) New Orleans, Las Vegas, an update on the progress of the Association’s and Washington as preferred locations for future efforts to develop an enhanced version of JOE meetings. New York, Boston, Chicago, and San that would include candidate profiles, letter Antonio fell into a second tier, with Anaheim, delivery facilities for faculty, and flexible tools Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Denver least pre- for employers and recruiting committees. She ferred. Among nine criteria listed as priorities reported that the Ad Hoc Committee is satis- in selecting sites, a warm climate, convenient fied with the development of a candidate profile air service, and a high probability of securing a and letter writing components to date, and with hotel room near headquarters dominated. Low the attention to detail provided by the IT staff hotel prices, low airfares, and quality restaurants in Pittsburgh. She observed that the project was were the next most important. Seventeen percent on schedule, but that there is little slack in the of respondents reported interviewing for a job; 686 AEA PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS MAY 2015

34 percent reported interviewing candidates. vendors cited the need for a discovery phase Thirty-seven percent were on the program. that would require 6–12 weeks at a cost of Fifty-two percent of respondents reported using $20,000–$30,000. The one vendor to offer an the app version of the program, and 84 percent estimate for the development phase placed this of them rated it as either excellent or good. The cost at $70,000–$120,000. It was agreed that median number of sessions attended was 2–4. plans to redesign the website should proceed Twenty-two percent of respondents attended with a first-phase analysis. It was also noted no sessions; 33 percent attended five or more. that an effective new website would require the There was a strong preference for continuing services of an economist to manage the content, to hold the annual meeting shortly after New and that outreach to secondary school students Year’s Day. Responses to the survey questions and faculty would be an essential component. from AEA members and non-members were Potential Committee on Journals and broadly similar . A survey was also sent to AEA Publishing Nordhaus .—Nordhaus reported members who did not attend the meetings, and that he is considering( the) appointment of an ad 1,386 responses were received. This group also hoc committee to review several aspects of the preferred a meeting shortly after New Year’s, but Association’s publishing program. These aspects less strongly than 2014 attendees. Time of year could include a review of the AEA Papers and and the typically cold weather in Philadelphia Proceedings, the progress of the AEJs, identify- were cited as the main reasons for not attending. ing new areas that the journals program could There was also interest in the ASSA providing enter such as a publication for shorter commu- child-care services for attendees; an earlier pro- nications( , and the possibility of publishing arti- gram was discontinued in 2010 due to very low cles online) immediately after production. utilization. Reappointment of Secretary-Treasurer Locations for Annual Meeting Nordhaus and Nordhaus .—Nordhaus reported that the voting Rousseau .—Rousseau reviewed( options for members( of) the Executive Committee had met future annual) meetings, noting that sites for 2021 in Executive Session and had VOTED to reap- Chicago and 2022 Boston had been booked point Peter Rousseau as Secretary-Treasurer of during( 2013.) He announced( that) Las Vegas, San the Association for a second three-year term Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, DC have starting in July 2015 and ending in June 2018. all expressed interest for 2023 and beyond, and Report of the Secretary Rousseau .— invited discussion. The Executive Committee Rousseau reviewed the schedule( for sites )and recognized the many factors that figure into dates of future meetings: Boston, January a location decision, but in general expressed 3–5, 2015 Saturday, Sunday, and Monday ; preferences for meeting in San Francisco, San San Francisco,( January 3–5, 2016 Sunday,) Diego, and Las Vegas. Washington, DC was also Monday, and Tuesday ; Chicago, (January considered desirable if the meeting could be cen- 6–8, 2017 Friday, Saturday,) and Sunday ; tered in the downtown area. It was then VOTED Atlanta, January( 5–7, 2018 Friday, Saturday,) to authorize the Secretary-Treasurer to pursue and Sunday ; Philadelphia, January( 4–6, 2019 negotiations with San Francisco or San Diego Friday, Saturday,) and Sunday ; San Diego, for 2023, Washington for 2024 subject to the January( 3–5, 2020 Friday, )Saturday, and caveat above , and Las Vegas for 2025( with San Sunday ; Chicago, January( 3–5, 2021 Sunday, Diego or San) Francisco as alternates depending( Monday,) and Tuesday ; and Boston, (January on the outcome for 2023 . A discussion ensued 7–9, 2022 Friday, Saturday,) and Sunday . The about extending the annual) meeting to increase Executive Committee( meets the day prior )to the the number of papers that could get on the pro- Annual Meeting each year. gram. One possibility is to add a modest number The 2014 meeting in Philadelphia drew of additional sessions in the afternoon of arrival 12,218 registrants, surpassing Chicago’s previ- day 4–6 pm . ous record of 11,624 in 2012. The 2013 meeting Website( )Improvements Nordhaus and San Diego drew 11,371 registrants. The pre- Rousseau .—Rousseau reported( that two vious( Philadelphia) meeting in 2005 drew 8,424 possible vendors) had been identified from a registrants. Registration includes pre-registrants group of seven in the Pittsburgh area as candi- including no-shows plus on-site registration. dates for redesigning the AEA website. Both Based( on numbers of) uncollected name badges VOL. 105 NO. 5 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 687 at the registration desk and past trends, the con- advisor to the Congressional Budget Office vention staff estimates that less than 5 percent CBO . Goldin identified a potential conflict of registrants for the 2014 meeting were unable as( Director) of the NBER Development of the to attend due to travel disturbances. Fifty-five American Economy Program. Kashyap iden- other societies met with the Association in tified a potential conflict as a consultant to the 2014, 513 scholarly sessions were organized, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, as a board and 238 “events” lunches, receptions, commit- member of the Einaudi Institute of Economics tee meetings, breakfasts,( workshops, etc. were and Finance and the Swedish Riksbank, and scheduled. ) as an advisor to the International Monetary An all-in-one mobile event application was Fund, the CBO, the Federal Reserve Bank of enhanced for ASSA 2014 to allow linking sched- New York, and the Japanese Cabinet Office. ules across devices and other improvements. Levin reported a potential conflict of inter- Users were able to customize their conference est as an advisor to EconJobMarket EJM , as by planning daily schedules, locating meeting a member of the Council of the Econometric( ) rooms on a map, browsing abstracts, papers and Society and of the Sloan Foundation Economics speaker bios, taking notes, viewing an attendee Fellowship Committee, as Associate Editor of list hotel directory, and sharing their experi- Econometrica, and as a consultant to the US ences/ via social media programs. The uploaded Federal Communications Commission. Matzkin facility was extended to allow uploading of con- identified a potential conflict as a member of ference papers for all ASSA societies. The app the Executive Committee of the Econometric was downloadable from most popular app stores Society, and as Editor of Quantitative and from the AEA website, and received 5,414 Economics. Nordhaus identified a potential con- downloads. flict of interest as Chair of the Board of Directors The Association’s sixth Continuing Education and a Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Program was held immediately after the 2014 Boston, as an advisor to the Bureau of Economic annual meetings. The goal is to help mid-career Analysis, and as an advisor to Yale University on economists maintain their research skills. Each issues of bundling journals. Rousseau reported of the three simultaneous programs included 12 a potential conflict as a member of the edito- hours of lectures by a team of two economists. rial boards of the Journal of Economic History, Topics for 2014 were cross-section econo- Explorations in Economic History, and the metrics Alberto Abadie and Joshua Angrist , Journal of Economic Education, as Associate education( and the economy Susan Dynarski) Editor for the Journal of Productivity Analysis and Brian Jacob , and economic( growth Oded and for E-conomics, and as Chair of the AEA Galor and David) Weil . There were 254 partici( - Budget and Finance Committee. Sims reported a pants in total, up from) 212 in 2013. The lectures potential conflict of interest as a visiting scholar were taped and are available to members on the at the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and AEA website. Atlanta, as a member of the Board of CERGE The Association’s Conflict of Interest Policy Prague and Barcelona Graduate School, and as requires that the Minutes of the Executive a( co-director) of Princeton’s Griswold Center for Committee record the names of persons who Economic Policy Studies. Mark Aguiar reported have an actual or potential financial or positional a potential conflict of interest as a member of conflict of interest, the nature of the interest, the advisory board for the Carnegie-Rochester- action taken to decide whether a conflict exists, NYU Conference on Public Policy. Lawrence and the final decision as to whether there is an Blume reported a potential conflict as a member actual conflict of interest. The Association’s of the advisory board to Human Computation, Budget and Finance Committee reviews poten- and as Senior Editor of IEEE Transactions on tial conflicts of interest, and determines whether Network Science and Engineering. Martin an actual conflict of interest exists. In 2014 Eichenbaum reported a potential conflict as a Finkelstein identified a potential conflict of member of the advisory council for the Global interest as Coeditor and editorial board member Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs. Matthew of the Journal of Public Economics, Co-Director Gentzkow reported a potential conflict of inter- of the National Bureau of Economic Research est as Associate Editor of the Rand Journal NBER Public Economics Program, and of Economics, and the Toulouse Network for ( ) 688 AEA PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS MAY 2015

Information Technology. Leahy identified a The combined 2013 operating surplus and potential conflict as a consultant to the Federal portfolio gain increased the December 2013 Reserve Banks of New York and Philadelphia. ratio of accumulated net unrestricted assets Robert Porter reported a potential conflict to 2014 expected expenditures to 3.1. The of interest as the first Vice-President of the Association’s target ratio is 1.5 to 2.5, estab- Econometric Society, and as a member of the lished by the Executive Committee in 2009. Board of Directors of EconJobMarket. Debraj The Association’s net unrestricted assets on Ray reported a potential conflict of interest as a December 31, 2013 were $30.2 million, up member of the editorial board of three unnamed $5.7 million from the year prior. Total assets on journals. Richard Rogerson reported a potential December 31, 2013 were $34 million, of which conflict of interest as Associate Editor of the $31.3 million consisted of cash and financial Review of Economic Dynamics. Mathew Shapiro investments, $2.2 million were accounts receiv- reported a potential conflict of interest as Chair able, and $0.4 million were prepaid expenses, of the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory furniture, and equipment. Liabilities were $3.7 Committee, as a member of the Academic million, of which $2.1 million consisted of pre- Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of paid membership dues and subscriptions, $1 Chicago, and from being involved in collabora- million was deferred annual meeting revenue, tive research projects with the Vanguard Group and $0.5 million was accounts payable. The and Check. Dan Silverman reported a potential Association also held $0.2 million of temporar- conflict of interest as Coeditor of the Journal of ily restricted assets. Public Economics. Andrezj Skrzypacz reported New Business.—Goldin announced that a potential conflict of interest as Associate she had submitted a proposal to the Sloan Editor of the Rand Journal of Economics. Foundation through the National Bureau of Calvani reported a potential conflict of inter- Economic Research for research on how to est because he represents the Association on a improve the representation of women in the pro bono basis, but his firm might be retained undergraduate economics major. She also noted to represent it on a paid basis. After reviewing that innovative approaches such as incentives the potential conflicts and mechanisms to avoid for departments conducting experiments in actual conflicts e.g., Rousseau does not partic- promoting the economics major among women ipate in Budget( and Finance Committee deci- could be useful. sions on economists’ raises , the Budget and Nordhaus remarked on the possibility of not Finance Committee concluded) that there were awarding the Clark Medal in a given year and no actual conflicts. subsequently awarding it to two individuals in Report of the Treasurer Rousseau . another year if warranted. Such a rule change Rousseau reported that the audited( financial) — might allow the Clark Medal to recognize joint statements for 2013 show an operating surplus contributions more effectively. Following some of $887,000. Including investment income and discussion of the pros and cons of such a change, capital gains, there was an overall 2013 surplus the question was deferred for consideration at a of $5.7 million. He presented a revised budget later time. for 2014 based on information received between There being no further business, it was November 2013 and April 2014, predicting VOTED to adjourn at 4:35 pm. an operating surplus of $369,000; a surplus of $330,000 had been predicted in January. Peter L. Rousseau, Secretary