Secretary's Report (1999)
Econometrica, Vol. 68, No. 1 (January, 2000)
THE ECONOMETRIC SOCIETY ANNUAL REPOR TS, 1999 REPOR T OF THE SECRETARY
SANTIA GO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN AUGUST 28, 1999
1. Status of Membership and Circulation
THE FIRST SECTION of this report describes the evolution of the Society’s member ship and of the number of institutional subscribers. Information is provided on member s and subscribers on both a mid-year and end-of-year basis. In each case, circulation is ‘‘real,’’ tied to actual banked receipts of dues and subscription revenue.
The latest information available, as of June 30 of the current year and of previous years, is provided in the top half of Table I. The bottom half of Table I report s the final number of paid-up member s and subscribers as of the end of 1998 and previous years. For any given year prior to 1999, the figures in the bottom half of Table I are larger than in the top half, reflecting those member ships and subscriptions for a given year that are initiated between the middle of that calendar year and the middle of the following calendar year.
Averaging out year-to-year fluctuations, the circulation of Econometrica has remained quite stable in the 1990s. The full-year figures in the bottom half of Table I show that the average total circulation of Econometrica in 1995-98 was just 0.9 percent lower than the average for 1990-94. There was some change within the different categories of circula- tion. Again comparing 1995-98 with 1990-94, institutional circulation was 2 percent lower, regular member ship (including soft currency, free, and life) was 5.2 percent lower, and student member ship 29 percent higher.
The figures for June 30, 1999, shown in the last line of the top part of Table I, show a small decline from the situat ion on the same date the previous year. Since Basil Blackwell had a major tran sition between software systems that delayed the posting of new member ships and member ship renewals in the Spring of 1998, it would perhap s be appropr iate to compare the mid-year 1999 figures with those of the average of the previous four years. By that measure circulation is down by 2.3 percent compared to the 1995-98 mid-year average. Excluding student s, where the number s are obviously quite errat ic from year to year, 1999 mid-year circulation is down only 0.8 percent from the 1995-98 mid-year average.
The comparat ive full-year 1998 figures for the Econometr ic Society and the Amer ican Econom ic Association are displayed in Table II. (For the member ship category these figures include regular, student , free, and life member s for both the ES and AEA). The ‘‘E/A’’ ratio for member s in 1998 of 0.204 was the highest on record since 1974, while the ratio for institutions of 0.489 was almost as high as the previous record year of 1996. Overall, it appear s that the modest slippage in circulation for the Society is less than the AEA has experienced.
