nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2010‒11‒13
four papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

  1. Rankings of Economics Journals and Departments in India By Tilak Mukhopadhyay; Subrata Sarkar
  2. Editors, Publishers, Impact Factors, and Reprint Income By Harvey Marcovitch
  3. University Competition, Grading Standards and Grade Inflation By Popov, Sergey V.; Bernhardt, Dan
  4. The Faculty Flutie Factor: Does Football Performance Affect a University’s US News and World Report Peer Assessment Score? By Mulholland, Sean; Tomic, Aleksandar; Sholander, Samuel

  1. By: Tilak Mukhopadhyay; Subrata Sarkar
    Abstract: This paper is the first attempt to rank economics departments of Indian Institutions based on their research output. Two rankings, one based on publications in international journals, and the other based on publications in domestic journals are derived. The rankings based on publications in international journals are obtained using the impact values of 159 journals found in Kalaitzidakis et al. (2003). Rankings based on publications in domestic journals are based on impact values of 20 journals. Since there are no published studies on ranking of domestic journals, we derived the rankings of domestic journals by using the iterative method suggested in Kalaitzidakis et al. (2003). The department rankings are constructed using two approaches namely, the ‘flow approach’ and the ‘stock approach’. Under the ‘flow approach’ the rankings are based on the total output produced by a particular department over a period of time while under the ‘stock approach’ the rankings are based on the publication history of existing faculty members in an institution. From these rankings the trend of research work and the growth of the department of a university are studied. [WP-2010-021]
    Keywords: Departments,Economics, Journals, Rankings
    Date: 2010
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3116&r=sog
  2. By: Harvey Marcovitch
    Abstract: Many editors are likely to deny that thoughts of a rising Impact Factor (IF) might influence their acceptance rates.
    Keywords: income, editors, factors, publishers, authors, coauthors,
    Date: 2010
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3135&r=sog
  3. By: Popov, Sergey V.; Bernhardt, Dan
    Abstract: We develop a model of strategic grade determination by universities distinguished by their distributions of student academic abilities. Universities choose grading standards to maximize total wages of graduates. Job placement and wages hinge on a firm’s productivity assessment given a student’s university, grade and productivity signal. We identify conditions under which better universities set lower grading standards, exploiting the fact that firms cannot distinguish between “good” and “bad” “A”s. In contrast, a social planner sets stricter standards at better universities. We show how increases in skilled jobs drive grade inflation, and determine when grading standards fall faster at better schools.
    Keywords: grading standards; grading inflation; information
    JEL: I21
    Date: 2010–11–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:26461&r=sog
  4. By: Mulholland, Sean; Tomic, Aleksandar; Sholander, Samuel
    Abstract: Analyzing the peer assessment portion of the US News and World Report’s college rankings, we find that administrators and faculty rate more highly universities whose football team receives a greater number of votes in either the final Associated Press or Coaches Poll. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, our estimates suggest that a one standard deviation increase in the number of votes received in either the Associated Press or USA Today Coaches’ Football Poll is viewed as positively as a forty point increase in a school’s SAT score at the 75th percentile.
    Keywords: college football; football bowl subdivision; national universities; peer assessment
    JEL: I20 I23 L83
    Date: 2010–09–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:26443&r=sog

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