Tuesday 17 May 2011

Formation of the World Economics Association

An invitation that reached me from the Real-World Economics Review.  Founder members from the UK include:
  • Edward Fullbrook, Real-World Economics Review
  • Geoffrey Hodgson, University of Hertfordshire
  • Tony Lawson, Cambridge University
  • Paul Ormerod, Voltara Consulting

Its free to join and might be more open and inclusive than existing Economics assocations.


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We, the 141 economists from the 40 countries listed below, invite you to join the World Economics Association which we are launching today.
Two commitments listed in our Manifesto sum up the project.
 
1. To plurality. The Association will encourage the free exploration of economic reality from any perspective that adds to the sum of our understanding.  To this end, it advocates plurality of thought, method and philosophy.
 
8. To global democracy.  The Association will be democratically structured so as not to allow its domination by one country or one continent.
 
The creation of the WEA addresses an obvious gap in the international community of economists – the absence of a truly international, pluralist association. Today’s digital technology makes it feasible to close this gap quickly and cheaply through a bottom-up, grass-roots approach.
 
The WEA has been legally constituted in the United Kingdom as a “Community Interest Company”, a special legal category (with an asset lock) for non-profit organizations whose purpose is to serve the public interest.
 
Membership of the World Economics Association is free.  To join, all that you need to do is go  here    and then enter your name, email address and country and then click.    You will also be given the option of providing us with a few professional details, but none of these are required. You will receive an email confirming your membership of the WEA .  You will also be given the opportunity to make a donation to the running of the WEA .  We want to emphasize that the WEA has no major donors, neither institutional nor individual, behind it.
 
The WEA will initially publish three journals, two of them new.  Online access will be free to members, with print copies available to libraries and individuals for a fee.  The WEA ’s very large membership from which to draw papers will ensure a high standard of scholarship. The general-purpose flagship journal will be the World Economics Journal. The other new journal, Economic Thought , will focus on the history, methodology and philosophy of economics.  The Real-World Economics Review will henceforth be published under the umbrella of the WEA .  If you wish, you may read a  document  detailing the structures and procedures, which include an open review process, for the journals. 
 
From its website, the WEA will also run online conferences.
 
Help economics and yourself.  Become a WEA member now .