The Changing Fortunes of the Economic Society of Australia over the Twentieth Century

Abstract

As it nears its centenary in 2025, the Economic Society of Australia finds itself not as comfortably ensconced as its overseas counterparts. Established to promote economics education, the Society was, in its formative years, largely run by university economists and business identities. As a professional grouping, the Society appealed to economists from all walks of life and commanded that status until at least the 1980s. One of the challenges facing the Society was the readability of the Society’s flagship, the Economic Record, for its membership. Another challenge was whether the Society took a proportionate share of the large numbers studying economics at university. Today the internationalisation of the academic economics profession poses a significant challenge to the Society.