Southern Economic Association

What Southern Economic Association does

The Southern Economic Association (SEA) is a U.S.-based private professional membership association for academic economists, founded in November 1928 at a conference in Atlanta. It is one of the oldest economics associations in the United States, and since 1933 it has published the Southern Economic Journal, the eighth oldest American scholarly journal in economics. The association is operated out of the Office of the Secretary/Treasurer (Benjamin Powell) at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX, with a staff headcount of 1-10, and is governed by a Board of Trustees with elected officers including a President, President-Elect, and Vice Presidents.\n\nThe SEA's core products are the quarterly Southern Economic Journal (peer-reviewed research in theory and applied economics, distributed digitally via Wiley Online Library) and the annual meeting, with the 96th iteration scheduled for November 21-23, 2026 at the Marriott Marquis Houston. It also administers recognition programs including the Georgescu-Roegen Prize for the best journal article, the Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Distinguished Fellows Program. A dedicated Graduate Student Program (managed by Bryan McCannon at Illinois Wesleyan University) supports doctoral candidates through complimentary registration, travel stipends, and membership benefits.\n\nThe association generates revenue through three streams: annual membership dues ($40-$100 across online, print-USA, print-Canada, and print-international tiers for Professional, Retired, and Student categories), tiered conference registration fees ($60 for student members up to $355 for professional non-members, with $50 late-fee increases after November 6, 2026), and a $35 non-refundable per-paper submission fee. Customer segments are horizontal across the economics discipline, serving primarily academic economists and scholars, secondarily graduate students on the academic job market, and tertiary general-public members interested in economic affairs. Distribution is via the SEA member portal (sea.meetingsavvy.net), Wiley Online Library for journal access, and in-person annual conferences that will rotate through Nashville (2027), New Orleans (2028), and Washington DC (2029) following the 2026 Houston meeting.

Name

Southern Economic Association

Legal name

Southern Economic Association

Website

https://southerneconomic.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1928

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Southern Economic Association is a private U.S. academic membership association founded in 1928 that publishes the Southern Economic Journal (since 1933) and hosts an annual economics conference serving professional economists, graduate students, and the interested public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Economics Association

NAICS

Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Business, Economics & Management Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK)

Keywords

• Professional economics association
• Academic journal publishing
• Scholarly conference organization
• Peer-reviewed economics research
• Academic membership services

Headquarters

HQ city

Lubbock

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees providing access to the Southern Economic Journal (four issues) and reduced conference registration rates
2. Conference Registration Fees: Revenue from annual meeting registrations for professional members, non-members, and student attendees with tiered pricing
3. Paper Submission Fees: Non-refundable $35.00 submission fee per individual paper submission for conference consideration

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Southern Economic Association is a professional academic membership association that publishes the Southern Economic Journal (a quarterly peer-reviewed economics journal founded in 1933) and hosts the SEA Annual Meeting for economists and scholars. It sells annual memberships in Professional, Retired, and Student tiers that bundle journal access with reduced conference registration and submission fees, and it administers academic recognition awards including the Georgescu-Roegen Prize.

Product overview

The Southern Economic Association (SEA) operates as a professional membership organization offering a unified portfolio centered on its academic journal and annual conference. The core offerings include the Southern Economic Journal (a peer-reviewed economics publication), annual meetings/conferences, and a membership program providing journal access and conference discounts. The association also administers award programs including the Georgescu-Roegen Prize, Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award, and Distinguished Fellows recognition. The organization supports its mission of advancing economics education and research dissemination through conference registration services and membership management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Southern Economic Journal
• SEA Annual Meeting
• SEA Membership Program
• Georgescu-Roegen Prize
• Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award
• Distinguished Fellows Program

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Western Economic Association International: Regional economics association publishing Economic Inquiry and hosting annual conferences. Near-exact structural peer to SEA with the same membership-plus-journal-plus-annual-meeting model, differing only by geographic region.
• Midwest Economics Association: Regional economics association running annual Midwest Economics Conference. Direct regional peer to SEA with a similar conference-centric operating structure.
• American Economic Association: The largest US economics professional association, publisher of the American Economic Review. Closest direct comparable: membership-based scholarly society publishing a flagship economics journal and hosting annual meetings for the same economist persona.
• Eastern Economic Association: Regional US economics association publishing the Eastern Economic Journal and hosting annual meetings. Direct regional comp to SEA with identical operating model and member persona.
• History of Economics Society: Specialized economics professional society publishing the Journal of the History of Economic Thought. Comparable membership-and-journal operating model serving a narrower economics sub-discipline.

Emerging players

• Public Choice Society: Specialized economics society publishing Public Choice journal. Smaller membership-and-journal peer with overlapping academic economist persona but narrower topical focus.

Regional players

• Southern Finance Association: Regional finance (not economics) association with similar "Southern US" branding and annual conference model. Comparable in structure and regional identity, serving an adjacent (finance, not economics) academic audience.
• Southern Management Association: Regional management (not economics) academic association sharing the "Southern" branding convention and annual meeting structure. Adjacent thematic peer serving a different academic discipline.

Broad incumbents

• European Economic Association: Continental economics association publishing the Journal of the European Economic Association. A larger, broader peer operating the same membership-journal-conference model across Europe.
• Royal Economic Society: UK-based economics society publishing The Economic Journal. Comparable scholarly society model serving academic economists in a different geography, broadly comparable in mission and product mix.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/southerneconj
• Facebookfacebook.com/SouthernEconJ

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Southern Economic Association