Society for Economic Measurement

What Society for Economic Measurement does

Society for Economic Measurement (SEM) is a U.S.-domiciled nonprofit professional academic society founded in 2014 to advance research on the measurement of economic activity — including GDP, price indices, productivity, monetary aggregation, and international comparison methodologies. Its core product is an annual international conference that has rotated through tier-1 academic and policy institutions across North America, Europe, and Asia (University of Chicago, OECD Paris, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, MIT, Xiamen University, Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Calgary, University of Milano-Bicocca, Athens University of Economics and Business, Georgia Tech, and Washington University in St. Louis). The society serves academic economists and econometricians, government and central bank statisticians, and graduate students, with keynote speakers historically including Nobel laureate James Heckman alongside Dale Jorgenson, Francis Diebold, and Erik Brynjolfsson.

The society's supporting products are its membership program (giving access to conferences, affiliated journals, a monograph series, and the SEM Fellows community) and its affiliated academic publications. SEM operates on a hybrid revenue model: tiered conference registration fees (typically $250-$425 depending on submission timing) and recurring annual membership dues collected through its website (sem-society.org). Paper submissions and program management run on the Oxford Abstracts platform, and the society is sustained by a small set of regular institutional sponsors — University of Kansas, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Center for Financial Stability — with event-level co-sponsorship from policy institutions (OECD, ECB, Bank of Canada, Bank of Greece). The organization has no disclosed headcount, no funding rounds, and does not publicly report revenue.

Name

Society for Economic Measurement

Legal name

The Society for Economic Measurement

Website

https://sem-society.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

The Society for Economic Measurement (SEM) is a nonprofit academic society, founded in 2014, that runs annual international conferences on economic measurement for academic economists, government statisticians, and central bank researchers, supported by membership dues and institutional sponsorships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Calgary

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Conference Registration Fees: SEM generates revenue through tiered conference registration fees, with early-bird pricing and standard rates. Fees typically range from $250-$425 depending on submission timing. Additional fees may apply for guest dinner attendance.
2. Membership Fees: Annual membership fees collected through the society's website portal, providing access to conferences, publications, and the academic network.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Society for Economic Measurement (SEM) is a nonprofit professional academic society that organizes annual international conferences on economic measurement, supported by a membership program and affiliated academic journals and monograph series. Its conferences rotate across global academic centers and feature keynote lectures, parallel sessions, and paper presentations on topics such as productivity measurement, monetary economics, price indices, and financial metrics.

Product overview

The Society for Economic Measurement (SEM) is an academic society that organizes annual conferences on economic measurement. The organization's primary offerings include its annual conferences (with the 11th Annual Conference scheduled for Washington University in St. Louis in July 2026) and membership access to affiliated publications and the SEM Fellows community. The conferences feature plenary sessions, keynote lectures, parallel sessions, and paper presentations covering topics in productivity measurement, monetary economics, price indices, and financial metrics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 600+ members growing rapidly as of 2015
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered core, regional, flagship and minor.

• Washington University in St. LouiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 July 2026Host of SEM's 11th Annual Conference in 2026 (July 9-11). Local Organizing Committee includes Gaetano Antinolfi, Martín García-Vázquez, and Philipp Grübener from WashU.
• Athens University of Economics and BusinessregionalStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 July 2025Host of SEM's 10th Annual Conference in 2025. Organized by the Department of Business Administration with Local Organizing Committee Chair Georgios P. Kouretas.
• Georgia Institute of TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2024Host of SEM's 9th Annual Conference in 2024. Local Organizing Committee Chair Shatakshee Dhongde (Georgia Tech) with faculty including Haizheng Li and William Jimerson.
• Bank of CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 August 2022Cosponsored SEM's 2022 conference at the University of Calgary alongside the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and University of Alberta.
• European Central BankcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 August 2019Cosponsored SEM's 2019 conference at Goethe University in Frankfurt. ECB economists participated in conference sessions including Francis Gross presenting on measuring economy and finance in the digital age.
• SAFE (Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe) at Goethe UniversityregionalStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 August 2019Research center at Goethe University that cosponsored the 2019 SEM conference alongside the European Central Bank and other partners.
• Xiamen UniversityregionalStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 June 2018Hosted SEM's 2018 conference at Xiamen Island campus. Cosponsored the event with University of Kansas, Carnegie Mellon University, and Center for Financial Stability.
• MIT Initiative on the Digital EconomycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 July 2017Cosponsored SEM's 2017 conference held at the Samberg Center at MIT. The initiative's director Erik Brynjolfsson served as a keynote speaker.
• Bank of GreececoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 July 2017Cosponsored SEM's 2016 conference in Thessaloniki along with Aristotle University, University of Macedonia, University of Kansas, Center for Financial Stability, and Carnegie Mellon University. Bank of Greece economist George Tavlas served as keynote and local organizing committee member.
• University of CalgarycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 July 2016Regular sponsor and host institution. Professor Apostolos Serletis (University of Calgary) serves as SEM President-elect and key organizer. Hosted the 7th annual conference in August 2022.
• Center for Financial Stability (NY City)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 July 2016Regular sponsor and co-developmental partner. Professor William A. Barnett holds affiliations with both University of Kansas and the Center for Financial Stability. CFS Divisia monetary aggregates are a key focus of conference sessions.
• Aristotle University of ThessalonikiregionalStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 July 2016Hosted SEM's 2016 conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. Local organizing committee led by Apostolos Serletis with faculty including Constantinos Katrakilidis, Ioannis Kyritsis, and Theologos Pantelidis.
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 July 2015Hosted the 2nd International SEM Conference at the OECD Conference Center in Paris, France. The OECD Statistics Directorate participated in the conference program with welcoming address by Deputy Director Paul Schreyer.
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of CanadaregionalStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 July 2015Cosponsored SEM's 2022 conference at the University of Calgary alongside the Bank of Canada.
• University of Milano-BicoccaregionalStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 July 2015Hosted SEM's 2023 conference in Milan, Italy, with cosponsorship by the University of Milan. Conference held June 29 to July 1, 2023.
• Western Economic Association International (WEAI)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 28 June 2015SEM partnered with WEAI to join Allied Societies for their 2015 joint conference in Honolulu, Hawaii (June 28-July 2, 2015). SEM does not partner with all WEAI conferences.
• Becker Friedman Institute at the University of ChicagoflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 August 2014Sponsored the inaugural SEM conference at the Harper Center of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. The Becker Friedman Institute and the 2013 president of the Econometric Society were key organizers alongside SEM's three regular sponsors.
• University of KansasflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 August 2014Regular sponsor of all SEM conferences since inception. Professor William A. Barnett, University of Kansas, serves as SEM President and key organizer. The university co-sponsors annual conferences including Chicago, Paris, and ongoing events.
• Carnegie Mellon UniversityflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 August 2014Regular sponsor of all SEM conferences. Professor Stephen Spear serves as SEM Treasurer. Registration fees were managed through Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Econometric Society: A premier international society for econometrics and economic theory that organizes regional and world congresses and publishes Econometrica. SEM overlaps on econometrics and quantitative economic measurement, and the two have historical ties (the 2013 Econometric Society president co-organized SEM's inaugural 2014 conference).
• European Economic Association: Organizes the annual EEA congress across Europe and the Journals of the European Economic Association. EEA is a direct peer in academic economics conference programming, with overlapping European institutional partners (ECB, Goethe University) that also co-sponsor SEM.
• Western Economic Association International: WEAI runs the largest US-based economics conferences outside the AEA and publishes Economic Inquiry. SEM partnered with WEAI as Allied Societies for a 2015 joint conference, and the two are direct competitors for academic economics conference participation and journal submissions.
• International Association for Applied Econometrics: A society focused on applied econometrics that organizes biennial conferences and supports researchers using quantitative methods for economic analysis. It is a direct peer that overlaps with SEM's quantitative measurement audience and competes for applied econometrics conference submissions.
• International Economic Association: Global body organizing the World Congress of Economists and supporting economics research worldwide. It is a direct peer in international economics conference organization and comparable to SEM in hosting global rotating events with institutional cosponsorship.
• International Association for Research in Income and Wealth: An international association dedicated to advancing the systematic study of national income and wealth measurement, with a tightly overlapping mandate to SEM's economic measurement focus. It runs its own general conference and publishes the Review of Income and Wealth.

Emerging players

• Economic Science Association: An international society focused on experimental economics that runs the ESA World Meeting and regional conferences. It is a niche emerging peer with a similar small-society, conference-driven model but a different (experimental) research specialty compared to SEM's measurement focus.

Regional players

• Royal Economic Society: The UK's main economics professional society, organizing the annual RES conference and publishing The Economic Journal. It is a regional peer with comparable membership and conference model but UK-focused geography rather than SEM's global rotation.

Broad incumbents

• National Bureau of Economic Research: A premier US economics research organization that runs working group conferences, summer institutes, and policy conferences. NBER is a broader incumbent that overlaps on measurement topics (especially productivity and price indices) and competes for the same elite economics researcher audience.
• American Economic Association: The largest professional economics society in the US, organizing the annual ASSA meetings and publishing flagship journals. SEM is a smaller, specialized offshoot focused on economic measurement, and the AEA's broader scope represents both a partner ecosystem and a competitive substitute for researcher attention.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SEM_2021
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-society-for-economic-measurement-sem

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Society for Economic Measurement