AEA Survey of hiring plans of U.S. Economics Departments (and an unrelated unprecedented AEA announcement about Larry Summers)

 Here's the latest survey of the job market for new PhD economists:

To: Members of the American Economic Association
From: AEA Committee on the Job Market: John Cawley (chair), Elisabeth “Bitsy” Perlman, Al 
Roth, Peter Rousseau, Wendy Stock, and Stephen Wu
Date: December 1, 2025
Re: Survey of hiring plans of U.S. Economics Departments 

 

 

 

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Also on the AEA website is this unprecedented announcement:

    Announcement      December 2, 2025

Statement from the American Economic Association

"The American Economic Association (AEA) has accepted Lawrence H. Summers' voluntary resignation from membership and, pursuant to the AEA's Policies, Procedures, and Code of Professional Conduct, has imposed a lifetime ban on his membership. In addition, effective immediately, the AEA has imposed a lifetime prohibition on Mr. Summers' attending, speaking at, or otherwise participating in AEA-sponsored events or activities, including serving in any editorial or refereeing capacity for AEA journals. The AEA condemns Mr. Summers' conduct, as reflected in publicly reported communications, as fundamentally inconsistent with its standards of professional integrity and with the trust placed in mentors within the economics profession. Consistent with longstanding AEA practices and to protect the integrity and confidentiality of AEA processes, the AEA will not comment further on individual matters or the specific considerations underlying this determination.

The AEA is committed to upholding the highest standards of professional conduct and to fostering a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all members of the economics community.  The AEA affirms its expectation that all members adhere to the AEA Code of Professional Conduct and the AEA Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation, and remains dedicated to maintaining professional environments in which economists of all backgrounds can participate fully, and with dignity and respect."

 
 

Philippe Aghion interview in the Financial Times

The FT has lunch with Philippe Aghion:

  Economist Philippe Aghion: ‘Macron’s legacy will be better than people think’
France’s new Nobel laureate on stimulating growth, the power of creative destruction — and why Karl Lagerfeld helped him with his homework by Ian Johnston

    “I would see politicians articulating economic reasonings and getting to opposite conclusions,” he recalls. “That’s how I came to economics. I need to understand the world to transform the world: that was my motivation.”
,,,

“Zucman would kill Mistral,” he says. “France just becomes a Camembert country. We’d just produce Camembert, which is great, but no more AI.”

,,,
     “I push the young people with me to be better than me,” he says. “That’s why I chose creative destruction, because the day I become obsolete, it validates the theory.”

 

Gender Differences in Economics Seminars (forthcoming in the AER)

 Economics seminars are complex, and not always tea parties. Here's a detailed look, by many investigators, via the analysis of many audio recordings.

Gender Differences in Economics Seminars∗
Pascaline Dupas Amy Handlan Alicia Sasser Modestino Muriel Niederle Mateo Sere Haoyu Sheng Justin Wolfers†
and the Seminar Dynamics Collective‡
 

Abstract
We assess whether men and women are treated differently when presenting their research in economics seminars. We collected data on every interaction between presenters and audience members across thousands of seminars, job market talks and conference presentations, leveraging both human judgment and audio processing algorithms to measure the number, tenor, tone and type of interruptions. Within a seminar series, women are interrupted more than men, and this finding holds when controlling for characteristics of the presenter and their paper topic and for audience size. Interruptions that may not be favorable to the presenter, such as those that are negative in tenor or tone, or cutoff the presenter mid-sentence, are common occurrences in economics seminars, and increase for women presenters. We also find greater engagement with female presenters in the form of larger, more diverse audiences, suggesting a potential role model effect. 

Job market advice for new Ph.D. economists, from John Cawley

 From applying for jobs, to signaling for interviews,  through interviews, flyouts, offers and the scramble, John Cawley, the chair of the American Economic Association's Committee on the Job Market has measured advice in this video.  If you're on the market this year, do yourself a favor (pour a stiff drink) and listen, not just to the beginning discussion of disruptions in demand thisyear, but to the whole thing.

    
2025 Webinar on the Economics PhD Job Market 

New Fellows of the Econometric Society

 The Econometric Society has announced the results of the 2025 election of new Fellows.

Congratulations to all of them. It's a great list, that includes important market designers and  experimental/behavioral economists.

"The Society is pleased to announce the election of 25 new Fellows of the Econometric Society. The 2025 Fellows of the Econometric Society follow. Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Duke University S. Nageeb Ali, Pennsylvania State University Heather Anderson, Monash University Debopam Bhattacharya, University of Cambridge Francis Bloch, Universite Paris 1 and Paris School of Economics Eric Budish, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Yi-Chun Chen, National University of Singapore Xavier D’Haultfoeuille, CREST-ENSAE Cecile Gaubert, University of California, Berkeley Bryan Graham, University of California, Berkeley Nathaniel Hendren, MIT Oscar Jorda, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco/University of California, Davis Anil K Kashyap, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Jinwoo Kim, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Frank Kleibergen, University of Amsterdam Ivana Komunjer, Georgetown University Leslie Marx, Duke University Edward Miguel, University of California, Berkeley Debasis Mishra, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Tymofiy Mylovanov, Kyiv School of Economics and University of Pittsburgh Fabrizio Perri, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis David Romer, University of California, Berkeley Roland Strausz, Humboldt University of Berlin Francesco Trebbi, University of California, Berkeley Eyal Winter, Lancaster University and the Hebrew University" ########  In each of the years 2020-2024 the lists of new Fellows have been somewhat longer, and my sense is that we should keep trying to have longer lists, because we're  we're systematically missing many who would be jolly good Fellows.

Guido Imbens reflects on "What’s it like to win a Nobel Prize?

 What’s it like to win a Nobel Prize? 

"Stanford physical chemist W.E. Moerner, who received the 2014 Nobel Prize in chemistry, and Stanford economist Guido W. Imbens, who received the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in economic sciences, reflect on what changed – and what didn’t – after receiving the award."

"Where were you when you learned you had won?

Imbens: I was at home and was woken up by a call from Sweden. It’s just this very strange sensation as they tell you, “Congratulations, we’ve voted to award you the prize and we’re going to have a press conference in half an hour.” So you have this half hour where there’s nothing happening, but there’s also a lot happening. It was this very delightful, exciting moment when the rest of the world didn’t know yet. Once it was announced, there were telephone calls and interviews the whole night and morning. Stanford sent over a team for video, photos, and to help with the press. Our kids made pancakes for the Stanford crew, who had the idea of having the three kids interview me, and the video is an absolute highlight from that morning.

 ...

How did winning the prize change your life?

Imbens: It does change the way people outside of academics treat you, and it opens up a lot of new opportunities. The Swedes are very keen on having people take on this role model part, and they took us to high schools there to talk to the students. That was a very nice and fun experience. The attention and invitations die down, but as far as I hear from other people, it doesn’t really go away. It’s a permanent change.

Within the academic world, it doesn’t change things all that much. I still write my papers, I submit my papers, I get them rejected. But it has broadened my research and changed a little bit of what I try to do. I spend more time trying to leverage what I do by working with students and other groups to do what I can to push the field forward.

...

The Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm exhibits artifacts from past laureates that offer a glimpse into their lives and work. What object did you donate?

Imbens: When I did the work with Josh Angrist for which I got the prize, we were living in Harvard faculty housing and we didn’t have laundry facilities there. On Saturday mornings we would go to the local laundromat and do our laundry. That’s where we worked on the paper for which we won the prize. So I donated a bottle of laundry detergent to the museum. Recently, the museum had an advertising campaign and they had posters with “the detergent that changed the world.”

###########

And here's an article in Nature about other science prizes, and how none of them have yet captured the world's attention the way the Nobels have:

These science prizes want to rival the Nobels: how do they compare?
By Chris Simms 

 

 

Citation laureates in Economics: Autor & Katz, Bertrand & Mullainathan, and Bloom

 Clarivate, the company that now maintains the Web of Science/Science Citation index, annually nominates very well cited economists (and academics in other fields that are celebrated by the Nobel Foundation).  Their idea, aside from celebrating very influential academics, is to perhaps predict who will win a Nobel, if not this year then sometime in the not too distant future.

"Since 2002, the Institute for Scientific Information has identified individuals whose contributions have reshaped their disciplines. Using a data-driven approach grounded in Web of Science citation analysis, we’ve recognized more than 450 Citation Laureates — 83 of whom have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize. Discover the full list of these exceptional researchers." 

 Here are their 2025 laureates in Economics (links on names point to their Web of Science page).  All of them look like worthy candidates for further celebration.

Citation Laureates 2025 in Economics
Celebrating economists whose research has reshaped policy, deepened insights into human behavior, and influenced global economic systems. 

"for seminal analysis of wage structure, earnings inequality, educational advance, and technological change"
 David Autor, United States and Lawrence F. Katz, United States

"for joint research on racial discrimination, corporate governance, and other aspects of labor economics determined by psychology and culture"
 Marianne Bertrand United States, and Sendhil Mullainathan  United States

"for analyzing the impact of economic and political uncertainty on investment, employment and growth"
Nicholas Bloom  United States 

NBER Market Design Working Group Meeting, Fall 2025, October 17-18, 2025, Cambridge, MA

 

NBER Market Design Working Group Meeting, Fall 2025,  October 17-18, 2025, Cambridge, MA
ORGANIZERS Eric Budish, Michael Ostrovsky, and Parag A. Pathak 

Friday, October 17

8:30 am

Continental Breakfast

9:00 am

The Structure of the Social Organization

Canice Prendergast, University of Chicago

The Impact of Race-Blind and Test-Optional Admissions on Racial Diversity and Merit

Allen Sirolly, Columbia University

Hongyao Ma, Columbia University

Yash Kanoria, Columbia University

10:30 am

Break

11:00 am

When Speed is of Essence: Perishable Goods Auctions

Isa E. Hafalir, University of Technology Sydney

Onur Kesten, The University of Sydney

Katerina Sherstyuk, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Cong Tao, University of Technology Sydney

Dynamic Threats to Credible Auctions

Martino Banchio, Bocconi University

Andrzej Skrzypacz, Stanford University

Frank Yang, Stanford University

12:30 pm

Lunch

2:00 pm

Centralizing Procurement: The Roles of Scale, Selection and Variety

Claudia Allende, Stanford University and NBER

Juan Pablo Atal, University of Pennsylvania and NBER

Rodrigo Carril, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

José Ignacio Cuesta, Stanford University and NBER

Andres Gonzalez-Lira, PUC-Chile

Missing Markets for Innovation: Evidence from New Uses for Existing Drugs

Eric Budish, University of Chicago and NBER

Maya M. Durvasula, Stanford University

Benjamin N. Roin, Independent Researcher

Heidi L. Williams, Dartmouth College and NBER

3:30 pm

Break

(30 minutes each)

4:00 pm

The Economics of Large Language Models: Token Allocation, Fine-Tuning and Optimal Pricing

Dirk Bergemann, Yale University

Alessandro Bonatti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Alex Smolin, Toulouse School of Economics

Truthful Aggregation of LLMs with an Application to Online Advertising

Ermis Nikiforos Soumalias, University of Zurich

Michael J. Curry, Harvard University

Sven Seuken, University of Zurich

Auction Design for Artificial-Intelligence-Based Sponsored Search

Lawrence Ausubel, University of Maryland, College Park

5:30 pm

Adjourn

6:00 pm

Reception and Dinner - Royal Sonesta Hotel (Skyline Room)

Saturday, October 18

8:30 am

Continental Breakfast

9:00 am

The First-Price Principle of Maximizing Economic Objectives

Byeong-hyeon Jeong, University of Zurich

Marek Pycia, University of Zurich

Stable Matchings with Switching Costs

Boris Pittel, Ohio State University

Kirill Rudov, University of California, Berkeley

10:30 am

Break

11:00 am

The Importance of Being Earnest (in Search Markets)

Brendan Daley, University of Colorado, Boulder

Jacob Sagi, Kenan Flagler Business School, UNC Chapel Hill

Intermediaries in Bargaining: Evidence from Business-to-Business Used-Car Inventory Negotiations

Bradley Larsen, Washington University in St Louis and NBER

Carol Hengheng Lu, Amazon, Inc.

Anthony Lee Zhang, University of Chicago

12:30 pm

Adjourn

COMSOC 2025 workshop on Computational Social Choice, Vienna, Austria, 17-19 September 2025.

 COMSOC 2025 is the 10th workshop in the interdisciplinary workshop series on Computational Social Choice. It will take place at the TU Wien, Vienna, Austria, from 17-19 September 2025.

We welcome not only researchers and professionals but also students, newcomers, and individuals interested in the fields of Economics, Political & Social Sciences, and Computer Science. 

The poster for the conference (including the large program committee) is here.

Market design search at WU Vienna's new Department of Business Analytics and Decision Science

 Ben Greiner writes to remind me that "Vienna is a beautiful place to live and work" and that there is a 27 July deadline for the first wave of recruiting for a new department, including two full professor slots for market designers.

" WU Vienna is establishing a new Department of Business Analytics and Decision Sciences, with a research focus on predictive and prescriptive analytics in support of data-informed strategic decision-making. This initiative reflects WU’s commitment to strengthening its academic profile at the intersection of analytics, artificial intelligence, and decision sciences.

As part of the department’s launch, approximately 24 new academic positions will be opened. These include 6 professorships, up to 6 tenure-track positions, 6 postdoctoral positions, and 6 pre-doctoral positions.

First call for professorships in June 2025

The first call launches on June 4, 2025 featuring 4 professorships.

These positions are distinguished by two different methodological orientations, with two different professorships per orientation:

• The first group focuses on candidates with a methodological focus on machine learning, symbolic or sub-symbolic AI (including deep learning, reinforcement learning, generative AI, and automated decision-making), or modern statistics and economicetrics.

• The second group focuses on candidates with a methodological focus in simulation, optimization, experimentation, algorithmic game theory, and/or market design.

To learn more about the call and application process, please visit the website for our job offerings.

 

Job search for Professor of Market Design: U. Mannheim and ZEW--Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Professor Achim Wambach writes with news of a job opening in market design:

Professor of Economics, Market Design (W3)
Department of Economics, University of Mannheim
 

"In a joint appointment process, the Department of Economics at the School of Law and Economics at the University of Mannheim and the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim are looking to fill the position of

Professor of Economics, Market Design (W3).

The job holder will be assigned to the Centre for European Economic Research immediately upon her/his appointment. She/he will remain a member of the department with a reduced teaching obligation of two credit hours per term (so called Jülicher Modell). The position is permanent.

We are looking for an individual who, thanks to her/his outstanding scientific qualifications, will strengthen both institutions' competencies in the analysis of markets and market design. She/he has proven her/his expertise in the game-theoretical analysis of market rules with a particular focus on auction or matching markets. The successful candidate has an affinity to field experiments and applied research.

The job holder will lead the Research Department 'Market Design' at ZEW, conduct research in market design and publish this research in internationally leading academic journals. She/he will also be responsible for third-party fundraising. The successful candidate should have experience in policy-advising, particularly in the practical application of market design. The position requires a distinguished academic record, demonstrated by high-level publications in international economic journals, and ideally experience by leading policy advisory projects. The candidate should also possess the ability to lead larger research teams and to effectively communicate research findings to a broader audience, including policymakers and the general public."