A brief history of the ESA



\1986 Westward Look conference group photo

1985: The Economic Science Association (ESA) was founded at a meeting at the Westward Look resort in Tucson, Arizona. (Attendees pictured)

1997: The ESA became fully international in 1997, with subsequent annual meetings alternating between Europe (every third year) and North America.

1998: The first issue of Experimental Economics was published.

2001: The ESA's permanent Web site was launched.

2002: Our founding president, Vernon Smith, won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his pioneering work in experimental economics. He shared the prize with Danny Kahneman, a psychologist who has done important experimental research on decision theory.

2009: Nobel Prize for Elinor Ostrom

2012: Nobel Prize for Alvin Roth

2015: Journal of the Economic Science Association is launched

Past members of the Executive Committee

Presidents

  • Vernon Smith (1986-1987)
  • Charles Plott (1987-1988)
  • Ray Battalio (1988-1989)
  • Elizabeth Hoffman (1989-1991)
  • Charles Holt (1991-1993)
  • Robert Forsythe (1993-1995)
  • Thomas Palfrey (1995-1997)
  • James Cox (1997-1999)
  • Andrew Schotter (1999-2001)
  • Colin Camerer (2001-2003)
  • Ernst Fehr (2003-2005)
  • John Kagel (2005-2007)
  • James Andreoni (2007-2009)
  • Tim Cason (2009-2011)
  • Alvin Roth (2011-2013)
  • Jacob Goeree (2013-2015)
  • Yan Chen (2015-2017)
  • Catherine Eckel (2017-2019)
  • Daniel Friedman (2019-2021)
  • Marie Claire Villeval (2021-2023)

Vice Presidents/Membership Secretaries (alphabetical, since 1996)

  • James Andreoni (North America)
  • Gary Bolton (North America)
  • Jordi Brandts (Europe)
  • Soo Hong Chew (Asia/Pacific)
  • David Cooper (North America)
  • Doug Davis (North America)
  • Catherine Eckel (North America)
  • Nick Feltovich (Asia/Pacific)
  • Dan Friedman (North America)
  • Simon Gaechter (Europe)
  • Lata Gangadharan (Asia/Pacific)
  • Jacob Goeree (North America)
  • John Hey (Europe)
  • Bettina Rockenbach (Europe)
  • Tatsuyoshi Saijo (Asia/Pacific)
  • Marie Claire Villeval (Europe)
  • Martin Weber (Europe)

Past Executive Committee members (alphabetical)

  • Linda Babcock
  • Sheryl Ball
  • Abigail Barr
  • Raymond Battalio
  • Michele Belot
  • Joyce Berg
  • Mariano Blanco
  • Robert Bloomfield
  • Sally Blount
  • Iris Bohnet
  • Gary Bolton
  • Peter Bossaerts
  • Colin Camerer
  • JC Cardenas
  • Jeff Carpenter
  • Tim Cason
  • Alessandra Cassar
  • Marco Castillo
  • Gary Charness
  • Yan Chen
  • David Conn
  • David Cooper
  • Don Coursey
  • James Cox
  • Rachel Croson
  • Doug de Jong
  • Cary Deck
  • Anna Dreber
  • John Duffy
  • Martin Dufwenberg
  • Catherine Eckel
  • Mahmoud El-Gamal
  • Tore Ellingsen
  • Armin Falk
  • Enrique Fatas
  • Ernst Fehr
  • Nick Feltovich
  • Urs Fischbacher
  • Guillaume Frechette
  • Dan Friedman
  • Simon Gaechter
  • Lata Gangadharan
  • Roy Gardner
  • Laura Gee
  • Ann Gillete
  • Uri Gneezy
  • Jacob Goeree
  • Ben Greiner
  • David Grether
  • Brit Grosskopf
  • Werner Güth
  • PJ Healy
  • Elizabeth Hoffman
  • Dan Houser
  • Steffen Huck
  • Nagore Iriberri
  • Steve Kachelmeier
  • John Kagel
  • Daniel Kahneman
  • Martin Köcher
  • Erin Krupka
  • Dorothea Kubler
  • John Ledyard
  • Dan Levin
  • Sherry Li
  • John List
  • Kevin McCabe
  • Michael McKee
  • Friederike Mengel
  • Rebecca Morton
  • Rosemarie Nagel
  • Muriel Niederle
  • Roger Noll
  • Douglass North
  • Daniele Nosenzo
  • Charles Noussair
  • Ronald Oaxaca
  • Joerg Oechssler
  • Theo Offerman
  • Ryan Oprea
  • Elinor Ostrom
  • Lionel Page
  • Ragan Petrie
  • David Porter
  • Jan Potters
  • Ernesto Reuben
  • Arno Riedl
  • Tom Rietz
  • Tanya Rosenblatt
  • Alvin Roth
  • Tatsuyoshi Saijo
  • Tim Salmon
  • Anya Samek
  • Ulrich Schmidt
  • Martin Sefton
  • Danila Serra
  • Robert Slonim
  • Barry Sopher
  • Sigrid Suetens
  • Shyam Sunder
  • Agnieszka Tymula
  • Jean-Robert Tyran
  • John Van Huyck
  • Lise Vesterlund
  • Marie Claire Villeval
  • James Walker
  • Roberto Weber
  • Nat Wilcox
  • Arlington Williams
  • Bart Wilson
  • Franz van Winden
  • John Wooders
  • Erte Xiao
  • Leeat Yariv
  • Rami Zwick

Past Editors of Experimental Economics

  • Charles Holt (1997-2004)
  • Arthur Schram (1997-2007)
  • Tim Cason (2004-2009)
  • Jordi Brandts (2007-2011)
  • Jacob Goeree (2009-2014)
  • David Cooper (2011-2016)
  • Charles Noussair (2014-2019)
  • Marie Claire Villeval (2016-2021)
  • Lata Gangadharan (2016-2022)
  • Roberto Weber (2018-2023)
  • John Duffy (2018-2024)

Past Editors of the Journal of the Economic Science Association

  • Nikos Nikiforakis (2014-2019)
  • Robert Slonim (2014-2020)
  • Maria Bigoni (2019-2022)
  • Dirk Engelmann (2020-2022)