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on Sociology of Economics |
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Issue of 2005‒10‒22
eight papers chosen by Jonas Holmström Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration |
| By: | Pedro Cosme da Costa Vieira (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | In this article, I examine whether the academics reward policy must correlate positively with the number of published articles per co-author, the number of pages and journal reputation. This is accomplished by estimating a non-linear model with a panel data from 168 economics journals covered in the ISI-Web of Knowledge database (58825 articles). The data reinforces the conjecture that published article value is slightly increasing with the number of co-authors and is proportional to the number of pages. The data also suggests that there are 4 distinct groups related to journal quality that I name A, B+, B and B–. |
| Keywords: | Co-authorship, Value of articles, Assessment of output |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:189&r=sog |
| By: | João Ricardo Faria; Gonçalo Monteiro |
| Abstract: | Why do some academics continue to be productive after receiving tenure? This paper answers this question by using a Stackelberg differential game between departments and scholars. We show that departments can set tenure rules and standards as incentives for scholars to accumulate academic habits. As a result, academic habits have a lasting positive impact in scholar’s productivity, leading to higher scholar’s productivity rate of growth and higher productivity level. |
| Keywords: | Role of economists; sociology of economics. |
| JEL: | A11 A14 C79 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:yorken:05/32&r=sog |
| By: | O. Sorenson; J. Singh; L. Fleming |
| Abstract: | Previous empirical research has established that science appears to stimulate the widespread diffusion of knowledge. The exact mechanism through which science catalyzes knowledge flow, however, remains somewhat ambiguous. This paper investigates whether the observed knowledge diffusion associated with science-based innovation genuinely stems from the norm of openness and incentives for publication, or whether it arises as an artifact of scientists having more dispersed social networks that facilitate the dissemination of tacit knowledge. Our findings support the former possibility: We use patent citation patterns to track knowledge flows, and find that science-based innovations diffuse more widely even after controlling for the underlying social networks of researchers as measured using data on prior collaborations. |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2005-12&r=sog |
| By: | Mario Calderini (DSPEA, Polytechnic of Turin); Chiara Franzoni (University of Bergamo and CERIS (CNR)); Andrea Vezzulli (DEAS, University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the debate upon the trade-off between science and technology by looking at how the scientific performances of a researcher relate ex-ante to his/her attitude to patent, during his/her academic career. We run an event history analysis explaining the hazard for a scientist to become the inventor of a private-company-assigned patent as depending on publications and on personal, institutional and environmental characteristics. A striking result is that, although either productivity or quality, independently taken, are likely to increase the hazard to patent, top performers scientists, i.e. those scientists that publish a lot on highly-rated journals, are at very low risk. |
| Keywords: | academic patenting, research funding, technology transfer., |
| Date: | 2005–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bep:unimip:1004&r=sog |
| By: | Czarniawska, Barbara (Gothenburg Research Institute); Sevón, Guje (Handelshögskolan i Stockholm) |
| Abstract: | The impetus for this study was an observation that many of the women who obtained the first chairs at European universities were foreigners. Our initial attempt to provide a statistical picture proved impossible, because there were numerous problems deciding the contents of such concepts as "first", "university professor", and "foreigner". We have therefore focused on four life stories. It turns out that being a "double stranger" – a woman in a masculine profession and a foreigner – is not, as one might think, a cumulative disadvantage. Rather, it seems that these two types of strangeness might cancel one another, permitting these women a greater degree of success than was allowed their "native" sisters. This situation was far from providing psychological comfort, however. Thus the metaphor of the wedge: opening the doors but suffering from double pressure. |
| Keywords: | wedge; stranger; Simmel; Schütz; women in academia; intersectionality |
| Date: | 2005–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:gungri:2005_007&r=sog |
| By: | Song, Moohoun; Orazem, Peter |
| Abstract: | Students in majors with higher average quantitative GRE scores are less likely to attend graduate school while students in majors with higher average verbal GRE scores are more likely to attend graduate school. This sorting effect means that students whose cognitive skills are associated with lower earnings at the bachelor’s level are the most likely to attend graduate school. As a result, there is a substantial downward bias in estimated returns to graduate education. Correcting for the sorting effect raises estimated annualized returns to a Master’s or doctoral degree from about 5% to 14.5% and 12.6% respectively. Estimated returns to professional degrees rise from 14% to 20%. These findings correspond to a large increase in relative earnings received by post graduate degree holders in the United States over the past 20 years. |
| Keywords: | Phd degree, Master's degree, Professional degree, GRE, Returns, Graduate Education, sorting, verbal ability, mathematics ability |
| JEL: | J3 |
| Date: | 2005–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12432&r=sog |
| By: | Maria de Fátima Brandão (Universidade Fernando Pessoa); Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEMPRE, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | The issue of cheating is a serious problem since it can call the efficiency of an education system into question. Furthermore, it is a devaluing factor in the country's stock of human capital. A student who copies is a free-rider, in the sense that he/she gains a higher grade than that merited by the actual amount of effort expended on study. In addition, it makes it impossible for teachers to fully achieve the goal of effective dissemination to, and acquisition of knowledge by, students. This paper conceptually and methodologically systematizes the phenomenon of academic fraud. Distinct forms of theorizing illegal behaviours are examined, adapting Becker’s crime model (1968) to cheating. A systematic review of the literature has allowed certain direct determinants of the probability of “copying”, not yet investigated, to be identified, viz: 1) the ‘advantages’, in terms of a higher grade, that students see themselves as gaining from fraudulent behaviour in comparison with not indulging in it; 2) the breakdown of students’ grades by nature of discipline - “reasoning” versus “cramming”; and 3) the existence or otherwise of a code of honour in universities. As a result, this paper proposes a new, ‘expanded’, econometric specification for estimating cheating (i.e., the probability of “copying”) based on an analysis of the expected cost-benefit, according to Becker’s model. |
| Keywords: | crime, cheating, university, human capital |
| JEL: | C62 D51 D82 |
| Date: | 2005–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:191&r=sog |
| By: | Försund, Finn R (Department of Economics, University of Oslo); Sarafoglou, Nikias (Inst för Samhällsvetenskap, Mittuniversitetet) |
| Abstract: | Recent availability of electronically accessible database of journal articles makes studies of the diffusion of papers through citations possible. Citation peaks have been found to be typically five to seven years, with a long tailing off. A seminal paper on theoretical and applied efficiency analysis followed quite another diffusion pattern. <p> |
| Keywords: | bibliometric methods; Farrell efficiency measures; DEA |
| JEL: | B21 D24 |
| Date: | 2005–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0181&r=sog |