The first meeting of the 2012 Executive Committee was called to order at 10:01 a.m. on April 27, 2012 in the Writer Room of the Renaissance O’Hare Hotel, Chicago, IL. Members present were: Orley Ashenfelter, Alan Auerbach, Janet Currie, Pinelopi Goldberg, Claudia Goldin, Jonathan Gruber, Robert Hall, Anil Kashyap, Rosa Matzkin, Christina Paxson, Monika Piazzesi, Andrew Postlewaite, Valerie Ramey, Nancy Rose, John Siegfried, Christopher Sims, and Michael Woodford. Executive Committee members David Autor and Esther Duflo participated in parts of the meeting by phone. Caroline Hoxby participated in part of the meeting and Abhijit Banerjee and Vincent Crawford participated by phone as members of the Honors and Awards Committee. Angus Deaton participated in part of the meeting as chair of the Nominating Committee. Associate Secretary-Treasurer Peter Rousseau also attended. Sims welcomed the newly elected members of the 2012 Executive Committee: Claudia Goldin, President-elect; Christina Paxson and Nancy Rose, Vice-presidents; and Anil Kashyap and Rosa Matzkin, and recognized the Secretary at the last meeting of his 16-year tenure. The Minutes of the January 5, 2012 meeting of the Executive Committee were approved as written. Report of the Secretary (Siegfried). Siegfried reviewed the schedule for sites and dates of future meetings: San Diego, January 4–6, 2013 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday); Philadelphia, January 3–5, 2014 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday); Boston, January 3–5, 2015 (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday); San Francisco, January 3–5, 2016 (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday); Chicago, January 6–8, 2017 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday); Atlanta, January 5–7, 2018 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday); Philadelphia, January 4–6, 2019 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday); and San Diego, January 3–5, 2020 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). The Executive Committee meets the day prior to the Annual Meeting each year. Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee Chicago, IL April 27, 2012

Dissertations in economics have changed dramatically over the past forty years, from primarily treatise-length books to sets of essays on related topics. We document trends in essay-style dissertations across several metrics, using data on dissertation format, PhD program characteristics, demographics, job market outcomes, and early career research productivity for two large samples of US PhDs graduating in 1996-1997 or 2001-2002. Students at higher ranked PhD programs, citizens outside the United States, and microeconomics students have been at the forefront of this trend. Economics PhD graduates who take jobs as academics are more likely to have written essay-style dissertations, while those who take government jobs are more likely to have written a treatise. Finally, most of the evidence suggests that essay-style dissertations enhance economists' early career research productivity.