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The new electoral ballot for the American Economics Association officers is out, and it is as usual from the old boys network:
For President-elect:
William D. Nordhaus, Yale, PhD MIT
For Vice-Presidents:
John M. Abowd, Cornell, PhD Chicago
Joseph G. Altonji, Yale, PhD Princeton
Raquel Fernandez, NYU, PhD Columbia
Paul R. Milgrom, Stanford, PhD Stanford
For Executive Committee:
Amy M. Finkelstein, MIT, PhD MIT
Jonathan D. Levin, Stanford, PhD MIT
Serena Ng, Columbia, PhD Princeton
Mark D. Watson, Princeton, PhD UCSD
Consider this: one has to point out that for once there is a candidate who got a PhD from a public university. As I mentioned before, I cannot see how these people can in any way or fashion represent the profession, as there is no one from a public university, no one from a liberal arts college, no one from government, no one from private industry, no one without tenure. One does not even have a choice for president! I have a lot of respect for William Nordhaus, but if there is no choice, this election is not about representation or democracy. It is also about credibility.
The ballot allows for write-ins, though. But without coordinated action, nothing can change here. One can attempt this, though. Hence, I suggest to write in for every position Gregory Burge, assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma and PhD from Florida State University. Make it known to the AEA that these shenanigans should stop.
Vote Gregory Burge and vote often!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
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10 comments:
I absolutely love this. Let's see whether this has bite. Any idea whteher the AEA actually announces vote tallies?
Burge for President!
Fighting for representation from think tanks, which even Economic Logician ignores.
Dies Gregory Burge even know about this?
Dies -> Does.
So sorry.
I have to agree that the AEA has turned into a beauty contest, where only top publishers have a say and one becomes a top publisher by being in the club. A catch-22 situation.
Only half the AEA membership is academic. It is time the others get some representation.
I voted for Burge, but unfortunately even if he gets elected he will be unable to accomplish much because he will be "crowded" by the usual suspects in the executive committee and other positions (his smart move would be to conform - and get rents from such conformity). Next time, you might want to start early with a list of people for not only President, but VP, and executive committee positions. There are threads on EJMR which have come up lending support to Burge, and that might happen with a more comprehensive list in the future.
What does the AEA even do? They do the annual conference, they have journals, and they have the JOE. Do they really have much power to do anything? Doesn't seem like those are really the most desired jobs in the profession... But the likes of Finkelstein must want the jobs for a reason.
The AEA manages several journals, distributes prizes and represents and lobbies for the profession. It can only be credible if it really represents the profession. For example, half of the membership is non-academic. How is it represented and who lobbies for it? Certainly not the comfortable Ivy league profs.
And how credible can editorial appointments and prizes be if it is all distributed within a small club, which then serves that same club?
For one thing these guys are smart. All of us know that getting PhD from MITs and then professoring in Stanfords is tough. So it is not a bad thing that they are in charge of AEA. On the other side, do they represente the profession? The smarter 5%? Yes. All of the prpfession? Abosultely not!
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