(This post was motivated by the recent existential agony of a good colleague who asked himself: "am I a maritime economist?")
IAME was founded in
1990 at a conference in Rotterdam to celebrate the retirement of a great man, my
predecessor, Professor Henk Molenaar. Subsequently, three economists, Richard
Goss, Tor Wergeland and myself, worked steadfastly to draft IAME's
constitution, which was presented at the association's inaugural conference in
Lyon, France, in 1992.
At that time, the name
of the association was "International Association of Maritime
Economics" (rather than "economists"), as we felt that ‘economists’
implied someone who had received formal training in economics, evidenced by a
"first degree" in the "dismal science". I emphasize
"first degree" to distinguish it from the various "masters"
who use "economics" in their title while admitting anyone who has the
money to pay for the "certificate". This would, in the eyes of the naïve,
legitimize one as an 'economist'; something quite attractive as a professional
qualification. We wanted to avoid this in the case of IAME.
Later on, the name was
changed to International Association of Maritime Economists. I do not recall
when exactly or by whom, but that was definitely wrong: By using ‘economics’ rather
than ‘economists’, the founders of IAME intended to welcome anyone, not necessarily
economists, who had an interest in the things we were doing; in short, the
study of the economic aspects of shipping and ports.
All in all, during IAME's very distinguished footpath, having established numerous professorial chairs, departments, faculties and schools around the world, having seen the completion of hundreds of PhDs, I do not recall anyone having ever raised the existential question "what am I". In short, if one has a first degree in economics s/he is an economist; period. The (professional) qualification is of secondary importance and it could well be maritime, port, financial, agricultural, industrial, political, or whatever.
HH
Dalian, China, July 2025
