nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2013‒10‒05
two papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

  1. External Influence as an Indicator of Scholarly Importance By Ho Fai Chan; Bruno S. Frey; Jana Gallus; Markus Schaffner; Benno Torgler; Stephen Whyte
  2. The impact of class absenteeism on undergraduates’ academic performance: evidence from an elite Economics school in Portugal By Aurora A.C. Teixeira

  1. By: Ho Fai Chan; Bruno S. Frey; Jana Gallus; Markus Schaffner; Benno Torgler; Stephen Whyte
    Abstract: The external influence of scholarly activity has to date been measured primarily in terms of publications and citations, metrics that also dominate the promotion and grant processes. Yet the array of scholarly activities visible to the outside world are far more extensive and recently developed technologies allow broader and more accurate measurement of their influence on the wider societal discourse. Accordingly we analyze the relation between the internal and external influences of 723 top economics scholars using the number of pages indexed by Google and Bing as a measure of their external influence. Although the correlation between internal and external influence is low overall, it is highest among recipients of major key awards such as the Nobel Prize or John Bates Clark medal, and particularly strong for those ranked among the top 100 researchers.
    Keywords: Academia, Scholarly Importance, Role of Economics, Social Importance of Economists, External and Internal Influence, Academic Performance, Awards.
    JEL: A11 A13 Z18 Z19
    Date: 2013–09–18
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qut:qubewp:wp020&r=sog
  2. By: Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto; OBEGEF; UTEN)
    Abstract: The empirical literature focusing mainly on the USA suggests that class absenteeism undermines students’ academic performance and that an enforced mandatory attendance policy may be beneficial. Based on a different cultural and economic context, and using data on 146 second-year management students enrolled in a Macroeconomics course at an elite economics school in Portugal, it is shown that even when controlling for potential endogenous factors associated to attendance and academic performance, absenteeism considerably lowers the students’ final grade (about 2 points in a 0-20 point grading scheme). In addition, it is established that a compulsory, though flexible, attendance policy contributes to improving students’ academic performance.
    Keywords: Absenteeism; Academic performance; Economics; Management; University; Portugal
    JEL: I21 I29 J22 J24
    Date: 2013–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:503&r=sog

This nep-sog issue is ©2013 by Jonas Holmström. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.