To: Members of the American Economic Association (current and former)
From: Ben Bernanke, President
Subject: AEA Member Survey on Professional Climate – It’s Not Too Late to Participate!

This e-mail is to remind you that the AEA's Survey on Professional Climate in Economics, administered by NORC at the University of Chicago, is still open for your participation. Those who have not yet submitted the survey received a reminder from NORC with the survey link on January 15, and the survey will close for current and former members on January 31. If you have not received a link to the survey, please make sure to check your spam folders to ensure that the e-mail was not blocked by your institution's filters. The AEA does not know who has completed the survey. For those that have, on behalf of the Association, I would like to thank you. If you have not yet had a chance, I ask you to please find the time to take it. NORC at the University of Chicago will be sending a final reminder and link to the survey on January 28 to any remaining non-respondents.

In April 2018, the AEA Executive Committee voted to establish a standing Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Professional Conduct. One of the recommendations of that committee was for the AEA to assess the professional climate in economics, and particularly aspects that limit inclusiveness, demean and/or harass individuals, or otherwise engender incivility in work environments. This survey will help us better understand the prevalence of these issues, which is of great importance in improving our profession. I hope that you will support the Association in this effort.

NORC at the University of Chicago specializes in confidential and secure data collection. No one from the AEA will know who responded or be able to match responses back to individuals. Data analysis will be completed by current and former members of the AEA using a fully de-identified data file.

Should you have any questions regarding the impetus for the survey or how the survey data will be used, please feel free to email the AEA at climatesurvey@aeapubs.org. If you have questions regarding survey content, administration, or data security, please feel free to contact the researchers at NORC at AEAsurvey@norc.org.

Thank you.