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 Paul who so generously stepped up to fill in last year has been replaced by Alan Miller.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.