Abstract
Following its foundation, the American Economic Association (AEA) cultivated a unique professional visibility, struggling to establish its professional credentials and to demonstrate the usefulness of economists’ ostensible skills. While celebrating the virtues of ‘free markets’, the AEA was itself shaped by government and collective action. In the latter half of the 20th century, the AEA promoted a ‘New Economics’ focused on macroeconomic intervention and regulation. However, these developments fostered a new generation of specialists with different views of public purpose, the appropriate role of government, and how professional economists could participate in the formulation and implementation of public policy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
AEA (American Economic Association). n.d. Records of the American Economic Association. Evanston: Archives, Northwestern University Library and Nashville: Secretary’s Office, Vanderbilt University.
Bernstein, M.A. 2001. A perilous progress: Economists and public purpose in twentieth-century America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Coats, A.W. 1960. The first two decades of the American Economic Association. American Economic Review 50: 555–574.
Coats, A.W. 1964. The American Economic Association, 1904–1929. American Economic Review 54: 261–285.
Coats, A.W. 1985. The American Economic Association and the economics profession. Journal of Economic Literature 23: 1697–1728.
Coats, A.W. 1993. The sociology and professionalization of economics, 2 vols. New York: Routledge.
Council of Economic Advisers. 1965. Economic report of the president, 1965. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Dorfman, J. 1936. The founding and early history of the American Economic Association. American Economic Review 26: 141–150.
Dorfman, J. 1949, 1959. The economic mind in American civilization, vols. 3–5. New York: Viking Press.
Furner, M.O. 1975. Advocacy and objectivity: A crisis in the professionalization of American social science, 1865–1905. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
Ross, D. 1991. The origins of American social science. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Samuelson, P.A. 1972. Economics: An introductory analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Tobin, J. 1966. National economic policy: Essays. New Haven: Yale University Press.
U.S. Council of Economic Advisers. 1965. Economic report of the president: 1965. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Bernstein, M.A. (2018). American Economic Association. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_340
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_340
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences