To: Members of the American Economic Association (current and former)
From: Olivier Blanchard, President
Subject: AEA Member Survey on Professional Climate

This e-mail is to inform you that, starting on November 14, NORC at the University of Chicago will be contacting you to complete an important survey sponsored by the AEA.

In April 2018, the AEA Executive Committee voted to establish a standing Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Professional Conduct. One of the recommendations of that committee was for the AEA to assess the professional climate in economics, and particularly aspects that limit inclusiveness, demean and/or harass individuals, or otherwise engender incivility in work environments. Understanding the prevalence of these issues is of great importance in improving our profession, and I hope that you will support the Association in this effort.

As a part of this work, NORC at the University of Chicago has designed and will administer a professional climate survey on behalf of the AEA.

Your participation in this important survey is vital to its success. Currently, evidence of discrimination and harassment in the economics profession is mostly anecdotal. A representative survey would provide more comprehensive information on the extent and nature of these issues and help to inform resulting programming and policy initiatives.

NORC at the University of Chicago specializes in confidential and secure data collection. No one from the AEA will know who responded or be able to match responses back to individuals. Data analysis will be completed by members of the AEA using a fully de-identified data file.

The success of our efforts largely depends on your thoughtful participation, and we hope that you choose to complete the survey. You can expect to receive the survey in the next two weeks. In the meantime, should you have any questions regarding the impetus for the survey or how the survey data will be used, please feel free to email the AEA at climatesurvey@aeapubs.org. If you have questions regarding survey content, administration, or data security, please feel free to contact the researchers at NORC at AEAsurvey@norc.org.

Thank you.