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on Sociology of Economics |
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Issue of 2007‒08‒08
seven papers chosen by Jonas Holmström Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration |
| By: | Juan José Dolado; E. Morales |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the determinants of academic performance of first-year undergraduate students in Economics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, over the period 2001-2005. We focus on a few core subjects which differ in their degree of mathematical complexity. Type of school, specialization track at high school, and the grades obtained at the university entry-exam are among the key factors we examine. Our main finding is that those students who completed a technical track at high school tend to do much better in subjects involving mathematics than those who followed a social sciences track (tailor-made for future economics students) and that the latter do not perform significantly better than the former in subjects with less degree of formalism. Moreover, students from public schools are predominant in the lower and upper parts of the grade distribution while females tend to perform better than males. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2007-23&r=sog |
| By: | C. Mirjam van Praag (Universiteit van Amsterdam); Bernard M.S. van Praag (Universiteit van Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Alphabetic name ordering on multi-authored academic papers, which is the convention in the economics discipline and various other disciplines, is to the advantage of people whose last name initials are placed early in the alphabet. As it turns out, Professor A, who has been a first author more often than Professor Z, will have published more articles and experienced a faster growth rate over the course of her career as a result of reputation and visibility. Moreover, authors know that name ordering matters and indeed take ordering seriously: Several characteristics of an author group composition determine the decision to deviate from the default alphabetic name order to a significant extent. |
| Keywords: | A11; A140; J32; J44 |
| Date: | 2007–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20070048&r=sog |
| By: | Joan Rosselló (Universitat de les Illes Balears) |
| Abstract: | We present a model which allows us to show that even in a public university system where tuition and fees are fixed by the administration, a stratification of public universities according to the quality they offer and the quality of students they select, can be observed. This result is similar to that observed in private and competitive university systems. We also show that it is very unlikely that segregation and stratification could be avoided by subsidizing those universities that are more inefficient. We show also that even if stratification and segregation could be corrected with subsidies it would be at the cost of fixing the upper-bounds at the quality that could be offered at any university, hence fixing quality limits at the whole university system. |
| Keywords: | School choice, state and federal aid. |
| JEL: | H24 I28 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubi:deawps:26&r=sog |
| By: | Cedric Gossart (Cankaya University, Department of Economics); Muge Ozman (Science and Technology Policies Research Centre, METU) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the coauthorship networks of researchers affiliated at universities in Turkey by using two databases: the international SSCI database and the Turkish ULAKBIM database. We find that coauthorship networks are composed largely of isolated groups, permitting little knowledge diffusion. Moreover, there seems to be two disparate populations of researchers. While some scholars publish mostly in the international journals, others target the national audience, and there is very little intersection between the two populations. The same observation is valid for universities, among which there is very little collaboration. Our results point out that while Turkish social sciences and humanities publications have been growing impressively in the last decade, domestic networks to ensure the dissemination of knowledge and of research output are very weak and should be supported by domestic policies. |
| Keywords: | Research collaboration, coauthorship, networks, research policy. |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:stpswp:0702&r=sog |
| By: | David Colander; Richard P.F. Holt; J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. |
| Abstract: | We attempt to clarify divisions made by us in previous work (Colander et al., 2004a,b) between “orthodox, mainstream, and heterodox” in economics, following very useful remarks in Dequech (2007), whom we thank. We also provide specific advice for heterodox economists, namely: worry less about methodology, focus on being economists first and heterodox economists second, and prepare ideas to leave the incubator of heterodoxy to enter the mainstream economic debate. |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0704&r=sog |
| By: | Eck, N.J.P. van; Waltman, L. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, a bibliometric study of the computational intelligence field is presented. Bibliometric maps showing the associations between the main concepts in the field are provided for the periods 1996?2000 and 2001?2005. Both the current structure of the field and the evolution of the field over the last decade are analyzed. In addition, a number of emerging areas in the field are identified. It turns out that computational intelligence can best be seen as a field that is structured around four important types of problems, namely control problems, classification problems, regression problems, and optimization problems. Within the computational intelligence field, the neural networks and fuzzy systems subfields are fairly intertwined, whereas the evolutionary computation subfield has a relatively independent position. |
| Keywords: | Bibliometrics;Bibliometric mapping;Computational intelligence;Neural networks;Fuzzy systems;Evolutionary computation; |
| Date: | 2007–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:300011260&r=sog |
| By: | Valérie Revest (CEPN - Centre d'économie de l'Université de Paris Nord - [CNRS : UMR7115] - [Université Paris-Nord - Paris XIII]); Samira Guennif (CEPN - Centre d'économie de l'Université de Paris Nord - [CNRS : UMR7115] - [Université Paris-Nord - Paris XIII]) |
| Abstract: | In 1996, two investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Department of Justice reported non-competitive practices among market makers on the NASDAQ. These reports also mentioned the influence of the NASDAQ social structure on market makers’ behaviours. Most market makers adopted social norms in order to increase significantly their income at the expense of the customers. This paper aims to explain the rise and long-term effects of non-competitive practices, through the integration of a concrete view of “embeddedness” (Granovetter, 1985). We propose the use of game theory tools to achieve this goal. A rereading of Kreps’ model of reputation sheds light on its structural dimension and illustrates the way social structure governs individual behaviours. |
| Keywords: | NASDAQ, non-competitive behaviours, embeddedness, social structure, game theory, reputation, trust |
| Date: | 2007–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00163731_v1&r=sog |