Econ-Harmony: An AEA Service for Organizing Complete Annual Meeting Session Proposals.

A new AEA service, Econ-Harmony began in 2009 and will continue in 2010 for the 2011 annual meetings program.  Econ-Harmony allows prospective individual paper submitters who are members of the Association to post information about their paper and search for others with similar interests who might join them to form a complete session submission.  Of papers listed on Econ-Harmony in 2009, 48 were submitted to the AEA program as individual papers, and 23 were submitted as part of a complete session, presumably formed with the help of Econ-Harmony.  Of those submitted as part of a complete session, 30% made the program; of those submitted individually, none made the program.  The Program Committee had no knowledge of which papers had been listed on Econ-Harmony when they decided which papers and sessions made the program.  In addition, 17 of the 29 people who volunteered on Econ-Harmony to chair a session, actually did so.

COMPLETE SESSIONS HAVE A SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER CHANCE OF MAKING THE PROGRAM THAN INDIVIDUAL PAPERS.  31% of 273 submitted complete sessions and 13% of 1404 submitted individual papers made it onto the 2010 AEA Annual Meeting Program; this experience is representative of recent years.

This process does not replace the formal submission process and it does not guarantee that a session will be included on the program. Rather, it is designed to help prospective authors identify others working on similar questions so they can form a jointly organized complete session to submit in the regular submission process. The normal submitted session includes four papers and a discussant for each. The submission portal for the 2011 annual AEA meeting opens March 1, 2010; individual paper submission closes on April 1, 2010 and complete session submission and closes April 15, 2010.