EEA European Meetings

Added: 05/25/2006

Established in December 1984 in Brussels, the European Economic Association is a professional scientific body whose membership is open to all individuals and groups interested in economics. The EEA membership included a number of benefits, including a reduced subscription to the Journal of the Economic Association and Economic Policy. Members can also attend an annual European meeting and congress at a reduced registration fee.

The origins of the European Economic Association can be traced back to 1984, when Louis Philips approached several colleagues with the intention to create the organization. This proposal met with a positive response of potential founders, and in December 1984 at the Brussels office of ECF the idea of the European Economic Association was approved.

The goals and purpose of the newly created association were defined as following:

- To develop and promote cooperation between research institutions and teaching institutions in Europe;
- To contribute to development of economics as a science;
- And to improve information exchange and communication between researchers, teachers and students in economics in European countries.

In pursuing these goals, the Association is interested in fostering closer links between policy-oriented and theory-oriented economists, and between senior economists and students from Europe. It works in close collaboration with the existing international and national economic associations. The EEA European meetings, congresses, and summer schools are held annually.

In 1985, the Steering Committee was set up to define activities of the European Economic Association. The European Economic Review came into existence in 1969 and seemed quite a natural choice for the Association's journal. EEA members can also subscribe to the Journal of European Economic Association published by MIT Press and containing articles of the highest scientific quality.

Today more than ever, it is committed to promoting the EEA ambitions, namely development and application of economics as a science.

The second EEA European meeting was held in May 1985 in Brussels and was sponsored by the Belgian Ministry of Economics and the European Cultural Foundation. At this meeting, Jacques Dreze was elected EEA President, Pietro Balestra Treasurer and Louis Philips Secretary. The Steering Committee was transformed into a Council composed of 30 elected members. Other major innovations included the introduction of the Annual Congress, first held in August 1986 in Vienna.

In July 1985, the Executive Committee met in the Belgian resort of De Haan. The Finance Committee was established to recruit Founding Institutional Members who pledged $5,000 for the next five years. Copenhagen was selected as the 1987 Congress site with Charles Wyplos as the Program Chairman. After the EEA European meeting in Vienna the Association's membership totaled 1,300 and stands currently at over 1,800. About 600 people attended the Vienna Annual Congress, far exceeding initial expectations.

After Copenhagen and Vienna EEA European meetings were held in Ausburg, Bologna, Cambridge, Lisbon, Helsinki, Dublin, Prague, Maastricht, Istanbul, Berlin, Toulouse, Bolzen-Bolzano and Santiago de Compostela. There is an agreement with the European Standing Committee of the Econometric Society to choose the venue to have the Econometricians' meeting and the Association's meeting in the same location or nearby.

In 1990 an extremely successful series of Summer Schools started, funded by the Stimulation Program for Economic Science of the EC.

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