Thursday 28 July 2011

World Economics Association - Progress Report


Dear Member of the World Economics Association,
 
The WEA is now two months old.  So I thought I should give you a brief report on how things stand.  
    
Membership is now over 6,000.  Donations total nearly £13,000.
 
The Journals
 
Seven of the ten co-editorships of the WEA ’s two new journals have been filled.  These are as follows.  
 
Economic Thought
John Latsis , UK, Reading Univeristy  
Annalisa Rosselli , Italy , Rome La Sapienza   
Alejandro Nadal , Mexico , El Colegio de Mexico 
 
World Economics Journal
Zhu Andong , China , Tsinghua University , Beijing
Jayati Ghosh , India , Jawaharial Nehru University
Norbert Häring , Germany , Handelsblatt
Michael Hudson , USA , University of Missouri at Kansas City
We have chosen and are in the process of purchasing an online journal software system for the WEA ’s three journals. It should be up and running by late August.  When it is, you will be notified so that you can submit papers. We will also at that time be looking for volunteers to perform various tasks involved in the production of the journals.  Meanwhile the editors of the World Economic Journal have already begun work at putting together the first issue.  My WEA work commitments have delayed the publication of issue no. 57 of the real-world economics review, but it should be out soon.
 
Editorial Boards have been formed for the three journals and are listed here for the WEJ, here for ET, and here for the RWER.
 
Online Conferences: Volunteers needed
 
This link to our Guidelines for Conferences explains the anticipated conference setup.  The Guidelines are open to amendment.  We are currently investigating online conference software.  It is likely that we will opt for a system that is a module of our journal software.  In any case we need: 
- 3 or 4 people to serve on the Conference Organisation Committee as described in the Guidelines,.
- Conference Leaders as also described in the Guidelines.  This role especially concerns people who have a topic or set of topics that they would like to make the focus of a conference.
- one or more people with a bit of IT knowledge may also be needed.
 
Executive Committee
 
Progress with establishing the World Economics Association reached the point where it needed a top layer of formal structure in addition to its legal status as a Community Interest Company (CIC) under UK law.  A formal constitution with procedures for electing officers and Executive Committee members is being prepared, but things are not yet far enough advanced for its adoption and enactment.  Therefore we have recruited an interim Executive Committee. Its members are currently as follows.
 
Juan Carlos Moreno Brid , Mexico UN Economic Com. for Latin America and the Caribbean  
C. P. Chandrasekhar , India , Jawaharlal Nehru University
Ping Chen , China , Peking University and Fudan University  
Edward Fullbrook , UK , Real-World Economics Review
James K. Galbraith , USA , University of Texas at Austin
Grazia Ietto-Gillies , Italy / UK , London South Bank University      
Steve Keen , Australia , University of Western Sydney
Tony Lawson , UK , Cambridge University
Peter Radford , USA , Radford Free Press
Dani Rodrik , USA , Harvard University  
 
Your ideas for the development of the WEA are welcome.
 
I and my co-organizers Peter Radford, Norbert Häring , Grazia Ietto-Gillies, Vicki Harris and Valerie Radford, who have worked hard for many months, thank you for your support.  We hope that you will continue to spread the word among your colleagues and encourage them to join the World Economics Association.  Six thousand members is an excellent beginning.
 
 
Edward Fullbrook