nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2022‒05‒23
two papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Axventure AB

  1. The Authors of Economics Journals Revisited: Evidence from a Large-Scale Replication of Hodgson and Rothman (1999) By Matthias Aistleitner; Jakob Kapeller; Dominik Kronberger
  2. The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800) By David de la Croix; Frédéric Docquier; Alice Fabre; Robert Stelter

  1. By: Matthias Aistleitner (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria); Jakob Kapeller (Institute for Socio-Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria); Dominik Kronberger (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria)
    Abstract: In this paper, we present results from of a large-scale replication of Hodgson and Rothman's (1999) seminal analysis of the institutional and geographical concentration of authors publishing in top economic journals. We analyze bibliometric data of more than 49.000 articles published in a set of 30 highly influential economic journals between 1990 and 2018. Based on a random sample of 3.253 authors, we further analyze the PhD-granting institutions of the authors under study to better scrutinize the claim of an institutional oligopoly. The findings confirm the long-term persistence of strong oligopolistic structures in terms of both, author affiliations as well as PhD-granting institutions.
    Keywords: sociology of economics, bibliometrics, concentration in science, replication study
    Date: 2022–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ico:wpaper:136&r=
  2. By: David de la Croix (UCL IRES - Institut de recherches économiques et sociales - UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain, LIDAM - Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and Modeling in economics and statistics, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Frédéric Docquier (LISER - Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research); Alice Fabre (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - AMU - Aix Marseille Université); Robert Stelter (Unibas - University of Basel, MPIDR - Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research - Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)
    Abstract: We argue that market forces shaped the geographic distribution of upper-tail human capital across Europe during the Middle Ages, and contributed to bolstering universities at the dawn of the Humanistic and Scienti c Revolutions. We build a unique database of thousands of scholars from university sources covering all of Europe, construct an index of their ability, and map the academic market in the medieval and early modern periods. We show that scholars tended to concentrate in the best universities (agglomeration), that better scholars were more sensitive to the quality of the university (positive sorting) and migrated over greater distances (positive selection). Agglomeration, selection and sorting patterns testify to an integrated academic market, made possible by the use of a common language (Latin).
    Keywords: Agglomeration,Publications,Scholars,Discrete choice model,Universities,Upper-Tail Human Capital
    Date: 2022–04–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03652304&r=

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