世界计量经济学会

世界计量经济学会简介

世界计量经济学会于1930年12月29号成立，事实上相当于世界经济学会，也是世界范围最大、水平最高的经济学会。除了每5年召开一次世界大会外，仍在各个地区召开经常性的学术会议。

世界计量经济学会的远东会议每两年召开一次，由远东地区的一个学术机构主办；参与者则是来自世界各国、多地区的经济专家，既不限于远东地区，也不限于计量经济学。日本、韩国、新加坡等国家以及我国台湾、香港地区的学术机构都曾经主办过一次或多次远东会议。在2004年7月于汉城举行的2004年会议上，清华大学申办2006年会议得到成功。

2006年7月10号在清华大学主楼正式开幕，会议由清华经管学院主办，得到了国家自然科学基金委员会、中国建设银行、中国国际金融公司等单位的支持。本轮会议历时四天，是世界计量经济学会第一次在中国大陆举行，也是世界著名经济专家们在中国大陆的第一次大聚会。清华经管学院经济系系主任白重恩教授担任会议主席，500多位来自世界多地的经济专家和学者参会，17名世界著名的经济专家和计量经济专家做演讲。

开幕式上，清华大学副校长谢维和教授、世界计量经济学会会长Richard Blundell教授、中国计量经济学会会长汪同三教授、中国建设银行副行长罗哲夫等分别致辞。开幕式之后，Richard Blundell教授做了题为“收入与消费：部分保险和不平等传递”大会数据。

这次会议共有来自世界36个国家和地区的400余篇论文经会议程序委员会评审录用，在会议阶段将举行140多场专题研讨会，这些会议论文的主题涵盖了经济学的方方面面，既有计量经济学、微观经济学和宏观经济学等学科的理论性研究，又有经济学理论在各个研究领域的应用性研究。无论是经济学大师的演讲，依旧就不同的研究领域执行的分组讨论，全会为莅会学者提出新的、有价值的理论、方法和看法供应机会。会议不仅要为世界规模的经济学知识和有关信息的交流和共享供应一个平台，而且也将为刺激经济学新思想、新看法和新方法的造成供应一个场所。

1. Purpose and Activities

The Econometric Society is the most pstigious learned society in the field of economics, with a world-wide membership. Its main object 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. It operates as a purely scientific organization, without any political, social, financial or nationalistic allegiance or bias.

The four main activities of the Society are the publication of a journal, Econometrica; the publication of a monograph series in collaboration with the Cambridge University Press; the organization of scientific meetings in six regions of the world (including a World Congress every five years); and the conduct of elections for Fellow of the Econometric Society, an honorary designation highly valued by members of the economics profession. More details on each of these activities are provided below in separate numbered sections of this document.

The governing body of the Society is the Council, of which a subcommittee called the Executive Committee meets annually and makes decisions on all aspects of the Society's operations and governance. Fellows elect Officers, members of the Council, and new Fellows.

The Society is a self-supporting nonprofit organization and operates on behalf of its members. The Society does not receive grants or aid from any outside organization, although some regions of the Society do raise outside funds for support of their regional meetings. The Society uses its financial surplus to finance travel grants to its quinquennial World Congress and to finance extra activities on behalf of members, such as a Members' Directory.

2. Brief History

The Econometric Society was founded in 1930, at the initiative of the Yale economist Irving Fisher (the Society's first psident) and the Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch, who some forty years later was the first economist (together with Jan Tinbergen) to be awarded the Nobel Prize2. The first organizational meeting of the Society was held in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 29, 1930. The first scientific meetings of the Society were held in September, 1931, at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and in December, 1931, in Washington D.C.

During the year 1931 173 persons became charter members, including all those who had attended the initial Cleveland and Lausanne meetings. Members initially had to be proposed for election by two existing members, although within another year the concept of membership became less restrictive and was opened up to anyone who wanted to join and pay membership dues, as is true today.

Fellows of the Society were initially nominated and elected by the Council, but since the 1960s have been elected by existing Fellows. Twenty nine Fellows were initially elected in 1933, and there are currently about 550 Fellows.

The journal Econometrica published its first issue in 1933, with Frisch as editor-in-chief, and with a budget that was initially subsidized by the financier Alfred Cowles. Frisch had coined the word "econometrics" only a few years earlier, in 1926. The journal started out publishing four issues of 112 pages per year and did not grow beyond 500 pages per year until the 1950s. Since the 1970s Econometrica has published six issues per year containing roughly 1,600 annual pages.

The business and editorial offices of the Society were initially part of the Cowles Commission, founded by Alfred Cowles in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the same time as the founding of the Society. Cowles served as Secretary, Treasurer, and circulation manager for many years (until 1948 as Secretary and until 1954 as Treasurer). The Cowles Commission (now the Cowles Foundation) moved to the University of Chicago in 1939 and to Yale University in 1954. Since the mid-1960s the editorial office has resided in the academic offices of the principal editor, while the business office moved from Yale to Northwestern University in 1975.