History

Major events

1984 and 1985

• Jean-Jaskold Gabszewicz, Louis Phlips, Jacques Thisse and Jean Waelbroeck discuss setting up a European Economic Association.
• Louis Phlips approaches several European colleagues with such a plan. 
• European Cultural Foundation provides funds for a first meeting with a group of potential founders in its offices in Brussels on 7 December 1984. This group became a Steering Committee and started to define the purpose and activities of the new association and decided that there should be an annual Congress and European workshops would be organised regularly. 
• Anton Barten drafted the Statutes of the EEA
• A nominating committee was formed, consisting of Birgit Grodal, Peter Neary and Jacques Thisse, to prepare the election of the first President. The European Economic Association was born.
• Jacques Dreze elected President, Louis Phlips, Secretary and Pietro Balestra, Treasurer. 
• Janos Kornai becomes President-Elect andAnthony Atkinson Vice-President
•  Steering Committee transforms into the Council and increases up to 30 elected members. 
• The European Economic Review, existing since 1969, becomes the official journal of the Association. Angar Sandmo and Peter Neary join the editors of EER.
• European Nobel Prize winners Hicks, Meade, Myrdal, Stone and Tinbergen endorse the founding of the EEA in a letter to prospective members.

1986

• Following on from the membership drive, the EEA has 900 Founding Members
• The first EEA annual congress was held in Vienna in August, 1986.

2003

• EEA launches its own journal - Journal of the European Economic Association.

2018

• EEA launches the European Job Market.

2020

• EEA membership hits over 4200

Due to demand, in the first thirty-five years of its existence the EEA has gone through a process of rapid expansion of activities. 

Thanks to the enthusiastic cooperation of all officers and the financial support from the private as well as from the public sector supply, the EEA has been able to meet this demand.