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on Sociology of Economics |
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Issue of 2006‒12‒01
five papers chosen by Jonas Holmstrom Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration |
| By: | Hall, Bronwyn H. (UNU-MERIT); Mairesse, Jacques (UNU-MERIT); Turner, Laure (ENSAE) |
| Abstract: | The identification of age, cohort (vintage), and period (year) effects in a panel of individuals or other units is an old problem in the social sciences, but one that has not been much studied in the context of measuring researcher productivity. In the context of a semi-parametric model of productivity where these effects are assumed to enter in an additive manner, we present the conditions necessary to identify and test for the presence of the three effects. In particular we show that failure to specify precisely the conditions under which such a model is identified can lead to misleading conclusions about the productivity-age relationship. We illustrate our methods using data on the publications 1986-1997 by 465 French condensed matter physicists who were born between 1936 and 1960. |
| Keywords: | scientific productivity, age, identification, panel data, bibliometrics. |
| JEL: | C23 O31 J44 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2006042&r=sog |
| By: | Guido Bünstorf |
| Abstract: | Based on new data, this paper studies invention disclosure, licensing, and firm formation activities of Max Planck Institute directors over the time period 1985-2004, and analyzes their effects on scientists’ publication and citation records. The results are consistent with prior findings that inventing does not adversely affect research output. More mixed results are obtained with regard to academic entrepreneurship. The analysis raises questions vis-à-vis earlier explanations for positive relationships between inventing and publishing. It finds little evidence than inventors learn from interacting with firms. Likewise, license revenues do not enable scientists to step up their research activities. |
| Keywords: | Basic science, academic entrepreneurship, innovation, licensing, firm formation Length 32 pages |
| JEL: | I23 O31 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2006-17&r=sog |
| By: | Hillinger, Claude |
| Abstract: | This paper has two sources: One is my own research in three broad areas: business cycles, economic measurement and social choice. In all of these fields I attempted to apply the basic precepts of the scientific method as it is understood in the natural sciences. I found that my effort at using natural science methods in economics was met with little understanding and often considerable hostility. I found economics to be driven less by common sense and empirical evidence, then by various ideologies that exhibited either a political or a methodological bias, or both. This brings me to the second source: Several books have appeared recently that describe in historical terms the ideological forces that have shaped either the direct areas in which I worked, or a broader background. These books taught me that the ideological forces in the social sciences are even stronger than I imagined on the basis of my own experiences. The scientific method is the antipode to ideology. I feel that the scientific work that I have done on specific, long standing and fundamental problems in economics and political science have given me additional insights into the destructive role of ideology beyond the history of thought orientation of the works I will be discussing. |
| Keywords: | Business cycles; Ideology; Science; Voting; Welfare measurement |
| JEL: | B40 C50 D71 E32 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:1246&r=sog |
| By: | Rémy Herrera (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - [CNRS : UMR8174] - [Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I]) |
| Abstract: | This article is to be published in the May 2006 issue of the Monthly Review. Nowadays, neoclassical economics' domination of development theory is on par with that of high finance's neoliberal power over development policies. There are important complementarities between these two forms of ideological domination which are mutually reinforcing and interdependent. Thus, it is not only the absence of a scientific basis and the logical inconsistencies that disqualify these approaches, but the ideological function and antisocial project that their methodologies and conclusions support in the service of world capital. |
| Keywords: | Development, neo-classical economics, neo-liberalism, crisis, heterodoxies. |
| Date: | 2006–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00113514_v1&r=sog |
| By: | Bas Straathof |
| Abstract: | During the last twenty years the share of researchers in the workforce has been rising in OECD countries. The consistency of this pattern suggests that it is not a transitional phenomenon. This paper demonstrates that the rise of research can occur in the steady state when schooling inequality is declining. Comparative static analysis of a semi-endogenous growth model with a continuous distribution of skills shows that a reduction in skill inequality can have a variety of effects, which includes a rising share of researchers. Additionally, the height of the growth rate of mean educational attainment is shown to have a positive effect on the proportion of researchers in the workforce, without causing it to grow. |
| Keywords: | Schooling inequality; Economic growth |
| JEL: | O40 I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c010_012&r=sog |