EDITORS' REPORT, SEPTEMBER 2006
Two thousand and six marks another of the periodic transitions at The Journal of Economic History with Knick Harley stepping down as co-editor and Phil Hoffman at CalTech stepping up to the plate as the co-editor dealing with non–North American topics, while I continue as the North American topics editor. We thank Knick for his service and welcome Phil to the task. We have been greatly assisted by Paul Hohenberg and Bill Collins, who have handled the book reviews for the non-American and American side respectively during this past year. Bill continues despite his service on the staff of the Council of Economic Advisers this year. Paul who so generously stepped up to fill in last year has been replaced by Alan Miller. At Vanderbilt, Linda Carter has been providing editorial assistance. Editorial assistance to Knick Harley was provided by Tommy Murphy and to Phil Hoffman by Sabrina Boschetti. The Board of Trustees has also appointed a committee chaired by Ken Sokoloff to search for my successor who will take over the North American topics when my term expires at the end of June 2008.
The JOURNAL remains active, viable, and of good repute. New submissions declined somewhat in 2005/06 from a peak of 135 the previous year and a record two-year average of 132 articles. Last year we received 125 new submissions but we remain significantly above trend. The international office continues to process a slightly larger share of submissions: 54 percent compared to the North American office's, 46 percent. This represents a continuation of historic patterns. Papers submitted continue to vary widely by region, topic, and era. Interests are different this year from last and vary between the North American and Rest of the World offices. Last year, industry and international finance and trade were popular with the Rest of the World office whereas for the North American office over one-quarter of submissions were on labor. On the other hand it has been a while since the JOURNAL received a paper on North American growth.
FIGURE 1 TREND IN NEW SUBMISSIONS, 1986/87–2005/06
Submissions focused upon the United States and Canada predominate over those for Western Europe (including Great Britain) and the rest of the globe continues to be largely ignored. Acceptances are down quite sharply at the North American office for reasons unknown—other than the lack of papers that meet the standards of the referees and the editor.
Knick and I have worked hard to reduce decision times by following up more quickly with referees, while referees for their part have been conscientious and expeditious in their duties. The results are apparent in the data. The median and mean turnaround times have been reduced by more than two weeks and are now around three months or less-which has been our goal. Whether further reductions are possible remains to be seen. These reductions also reflect the shift to electronic delivery and refereeing. The time between acceptance and publication has lengthened although there has not been much, or any, increase in the article backlog, which consistently runs to a couple of issues. Numbers, however, are small and it is not clear what conclusion or inferences should be drawn from these.
The outstanding quality and commitment of its referees, particularly those serving on the editorial board, is a constant of life at the JOURNAL, and the editors are indebted to all referees for their dedication to the peer review process that results in well-informed editorial decisions. In virtually every case the refereeing process results in published articles that are markedly improved in clarity, focus, and exposition from their original versions. The editors especially wish to thank outgoing board members Zorina Khan, Werner Troesken, and Nathan Sussman and welcome Howard Bodenhorn, Michael Haines, and Carolyn Moehling to the board. Referees for the year were:
Werner Abelshauser, Universitat Bielefeld
Brian A'Hearn, Franklin & Marshall College
Douglas Allen, Simon Fraser University
Robert Allen, University of Oxford
Lee Alston, University of Colorado
George Alter, Indiana University
Zofia H. Archibald, University of Liverpool
A. J. Arnold, University of Leicester
Dudley Baines, London School of Economics
Joerg Baten, University of Tuebingen
Dan Baugh, Cornell University
Trond Bergh, BI Norwegian School of Management
Howard Bodenhorn, Lafayette College
Michael Bordo, Rutgers University
Jeffrey L. Bortz, Appalachian State University
Maristella Botticini, Boston University
Leah Platt Boustan, University of California, Los Angeles
George Boyer, Cornell University
Elizabeth Brainerd, Williams College
Loren Brandt, University of Toronto
Stephen Broadberry, University of Warwick
Warren Brown, California Institute of Technology
Kristine Bruland, University of Oslo
Liam Brunt, Université de Lausanne
Carsten Burhop, University of Muenster
Erik Buyst, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Charles Calomiris, Columbia University
Jose Luis Miranda Cardoso, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão
Ann Carlos, University of Colorado
Leonard Carlson, Emory University
Susan Carter, University of California, Riverside
Marco Casari, Purdue University
Elizabeth Casio, Dartmouth College
Myung Soo Cha, Yeungnam University
Benjamin Chabot, University of Michigan
Greg Clark, University of California, Davis
Sally Clarke, University of Texas at Austin
John Coatsworth, Harvard University
Peter Coclanis, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Paul Collier, Oxford University
William Collins, Vanderbilt University
Lee Craig, North Carolina State University
Herman De jong, University of Groningen
Kent G. Deng, London School of Economics
Tracy Dennison, California Institute of Technology
John Devereux, Queens College, CUNY
Jan de Vries, University of California at Berkeley
Jonathan DiJohn, London School of Economics
Mauricio Drelichman, University of British Columbia
Leonard Dudley, University of Montreal
Alan Dye, Columbia University
Scott Eddie, University of Toronto
Michael Edelstein, Queens College, CUNY
Marc Egnal, York University
Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley
David Eltis, Emory University
Henry Emery, University of Calgary
Charles M. Engel, University of Wisconsin
Stanley Engerman, University of Rochester
William B. English, Federal Reserve Board
Stephan R. Epstein, London School of Economics
David Feeny, Kaiser Permanente
Niall Ferguson, Harvard University
Alexander Field, Santa Clara University
L. R. Fischer, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Price Fishback, University of Arizona
Valpy FitzGerald, Queen Elizabeth House
Marc Flandreau, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris
Dennis O. Flynn, University of the Pacific
Caroline Fohlin, Johns Hopkins Economics
James Foreman-Peck, Cardiff Business School
Rainer Fremdling, University of Groningen
Milton Friedman, Hoover Institution and University of Chicago (deceased)
Jaime Garcia Reis, University of Lisbon
Hank Gemery, Colby College
Jan Glete, Stockholm University
Claudia Goldin, Harvard University
Jack Goldstone, University of California at Davis
David Good, University of Minnesota
Regina Grafe, Northwestern University
Oliver Grant, University of Oxford
George Grantham, McGill University
Shane Greenstein, Northwestern University
Paul R. Gregory, University of Houston
Avner Greif, Stanford University
Richard Griffiths, Leiden University
Richard Grossman, Wesleyan University
Farley Grubb, University of Delaware
Timothy Guinnane, Yale University
Stephen Haber, Stanford University
J. David Hacker, SUNY, Binghamton
Michael Haines, Colgate University
Robin Haines, Flinders University
Christopher Hanes, Binghamton University
Anne Hanley, Northern Illinois University
Mary Hansen, American University
Zeynep Hansen, Washington University in St. Louis
Timothy Hatton, University of Essex
Michael Haupert, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Gary Hawke, Victoria University of Wellington
Santhi Hejeebu, University of Iowa
Sarah Hill, California Institute of Technology
Christopher Hoag, Coe College
Stephen Hodkinson, University of Nottingham
Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich, John F. Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien
Julian Hoppit, University College, London
William Hutchinson, Vanderbilt University
Laurence R. Iannaccone, George Mason University
Douglas Irwin, Dartmouth College
David Jacks, Simon Fraser University
John James, University of Virginia
Geoffrey Jones, Harvard Business School
Mark Kanazawa, Carleton College
Anders Karlsson, University of London
Jonathan Katz, California Institute of Technology
Yrjö Kaukiainen, University of Helsinki
Caglar Keyder, Binghamton University
Zorina Khan, Bowdoin College
Sukkoo Kim, Washington University in St. Louis
Stephan Klasen, University of Göttingen
Herbert S. Klein, Stanford University
John Komlos, University of Munich
Morgan Kousser, California Institute of Technology
Pedro Lains, Universidad de Lisboa
Naomi R. Lamoreaux, University of California, Los Angeles
John Lampe, University of Maryland, College Park
John Landes, University of Oxford
Richard Langlois, University of Connecticut
Marc Law, University of Vermont
James Z. Lee, University of Michigan
Margaret Levenstein, University of Michigan
Ross Levine, Brown University
Colin Lewis, London School of Economics
J. B. Lewis, University of Oxford
Gary Libecap, University of California, Santa Barbara
Einar Lie, University of Oslo
Peter Lindert, University of California, Davis
Hakan Lindgren, Stockholm School of Economics
Trevon Logan, Ohio State University
Jason Long, Colby College
David Ludden, University of Pennsylvania
Christine MacLeod, University of Bristol
Robert Margo, Boston University
Noel Maurer, Harvard University
Kenneth R. Maxwell, Harvard University
Sean McCartney, University of Essex
Ed McDevitt, California State University at Northridge
Robert McGuire, University of Akron
Marvin McInnis, Queen's University, Canada
Jacob Metzer, Hebrew University
Paul Miranti, Rutgers Business School
David Mitch, University of Maryland-Baltimore County
Scott Mixon, Bates, White LLC
Carolyn Moehling, Rutgers University
Petra Moser, Stanford University
John E. Murray, University of Toledo
Larry Neal, University of Illinois
Carlos Newland, Philadelphia College for Advanced Studies
Esteban Nicolini, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
John Nye, Washington University in St. Louis
Patrick O'Brien, London School of Economics
Thomas O'Brien, University of Houston
Lawrence Officer, University of Illinois, Chicago
Lee E. Ohanian, University of California, Los Angeles
G. J. Oliver, University of Liverpool
Kevin O'Rourke, Trinity College, Dublin
Robin Osborne, Cambridge University
Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University
Mark Overton, University of Exeter
Richard Overy, University of Exeter
Juan Manuel Palacio, Universidad Nacional de San Martín
Michael Palairet, University of Edinburgh
Sarah Palmer, University of Greenwich
David Parsley, Vanderbilt University
Robin Pearson, University of Hull
Pierre Perron, Boston University
Karl Gunnar Person, University of Copenhagen
Carlos Ponzio, Universidad Autónoma de México
Daniel Posner, University of California, Los Angeles
Gilles Postel-Vinay, LEA, INRA France
Leandro Prados de la Escosura, Universidad Carlos III
Stephen Quinn, Texas Christian University
Carlos Ramirez, George Mason University
Rossitsa Rangelova, Bulgarian Academy of Science
Roger Ransom, University of California, Riverside
Thomas G. Rawski, University of Pittsburgh
Scott A. Redenius, Bryn Mawr College
Angela Redish, University of British Columbia
Jaime Reis, University of Lisbon
Paul Rhode, University of North Carolina
Gary Richardson, University of California, Irvine
David Ringrose, University of California, San Diego
Albrecht Ritschl, Humboldt University of Berlin
Hugh Rockoff, Rutgers University
John Rogers, Federal Reserve Board
Joshua Rosenbloom, University of Kansas
Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, California Institute of Technology
Elyce Rotella, Indiana University
Peter Rousseau, Vanderbilt University
Richard Salvucci, Trinity University
Elena San Roman Lopez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Lennart Schon, University of Lund
Max-Stefan Schulze, London School of Economics
Carole Shammas, University of Southern California
Martin Shanahan, University of South Australia
John R. Shepherd, University of Virginia
Carol H. Shiue, University of Colorado
Ralph Shlomowitz, Flinders University
Alvaro Ferreira da Silva, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Kenneth Snowden, University of North Carolina
Kenneth Sokoloff, University of California, Los Angeles
David Stasavage, New York University
Richard Steckel, Ohio State University
Sanjay Subrahmanyam, University of California, Los Angeles
Richard Sullivan, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
William Summerhill, University of California, Los Angeles
William Sundstrom, Santa Clara University
Nathan Sussman, Hebrew University
Dhanoos Sutthiphisal, McGill University
Richard Sylla, New York University
Alan M. Taylor, University of California, Davis
Peter Temin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Juro Teranishi, Hitotsubashi University
B. Tomlinson, University of London
Adam Tooze, University of Cambridge
Tamara Trafton, Vanderbilt University
Gail Triner, Rutgers University
Werner Troesken, University of Pittsburgh
Marco van Leeuwen, International Institute of Social History
Eric Van Young, University of California, San Diego
Jan Luiten van Zanden, International Institute of Social History
Francois Velde, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Jacob Vigdor, Duke University
Peter Vikstrom, Umea University
Simon Ville, University of Wollongong
Catalina Vizcarra, University of Vermont
Hans-Joachim Voth, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
John Vrooman, Vanderbilt University
John Wallis, University of Maryland
Lorena Walsh, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Marianne Ward, Loyola College in Maryland
David Washbrook, University of Oxford
Warren E. Weber, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Simone Wegge, CUNY
Marc D. Weidenmier, Claremont McKenna College
David Weiman, Barnard College, Columbia University
Tom Weiss, University of Kansas
Oliver Westall, Lancaster University
David Wheelock, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Eugene White, Rutgers University
Jeffrey Williamson, Harvard University
Anja Wodrich-Weigt, Center for Financial Studies
Victoria Woeste, American Bar Foundation
Susan Wolcott, SUNY, Binghamton
Gavin Wright, Stanford University
Robert Wright, New York University
Tarik M. Yousef, Georgetown University
Madeleine Zelin, Columbia University
Yaohui Zhao, Beijing University
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS, ISNIE 11TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON COMPARATIVE INSTITUTIONAL ANAYLSIS: ECONOMICS, POLITICS, AND LAW 21–23 JUNE 2007
The conference will be held at the University of Iceland-Reykjavik, 21–23 June 2007. Keynote lectures will be given by Avanish Dixit, Princeton University, and Ariel Rubinstein, New York University and Tel Aviv University.
To register, please contact ISNIE by mail: Department of Economics, Campus Box 1208, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Dr., St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA; by phone: 314-935-8571; by Fax: 314-935-5688; or by E-mail: isnie2007@artsci.wustl.edu. The deadline for payment of registration is 21 May 2007.
ISNIE was founded to stimulate and disseminate interdisciplinary research on economic, political, and social institutions and their effects on economic activity. ISNIE encourages rigorous theoretical and empirical investigation on these topics using approaches drawn from economics, organization theory, law, political science, and other social sciences. For more information visit www.isnie.org.
