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on Sociology of Economics |
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Issue of 2007‒11‒03
five papers chosen by Jonas Holmström Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration |
| By: | Lynne G. Zucker; Michael R. Darby |
| Abstract: | We follow the careers 1981-2004 of 5401 star scientists listed in ISI HighlyCitedSM as most highly cited by their peers. Their number in a US region or a top-25 science and technology (S&T) country significantly increases the probability of firm entry in the S&T field in which they are working. Stars, rather than their disembodied discoveries, are key for high-tech entry. Stars become more concentrated over time, moving disproportionately from areas with few peers in their discipline to many -- except for a countercurrent of some foreign-born American stars returning home. High impact articles and university articles all tend to diffuse. America has 62 percent of the world's stars as residents, primarily because of its research universities which produce them. Migration plays a significant role in some developing countries. |
| JEL: | J61 L26 O14 O31 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13547&r=sog |
| By: | Malte Faber (University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | To answer the question "How to be an Ecological Economist", we must start by defining the field of Ecological Economics. Mainstream Economics altogether lacks the concepts required to deal adequately with nature, justice and time. It was the absence of these three concepts in this otherwise great social science that led to the establishment of Ecological Economics. The interest in nature, justice and time is its defining characteristic. The main thesis of this paper is that our field is a fragile institution and that the professional existence of an ecological economist is no less fragile. However, this very fragility also represents freedom, scope for free thinking, conceptualising and research. Nevertheless, to be able to really use and in turn enjoy the full scope of this freedom, an ecological economist needs certain specific characteristics, in particular what is termed in the German philosophical tradition "Urteilskraft" and in English "power of judgement". A description of these characteristics is developed in this paper, providing an answer to the question "How to be an ecological economist?" |
| Keywords: | ecological economics; mainstream economics; political economy; nature; justice; time; growth; power of judgement |
| JEL: | A10 A12 A13 B10 Q00 Q57 O40 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0454&r=sog |
| By: | Raposo, Mário; Alves, Helena |
| Abstract: | In order to attract the best students, institutions of higher education need to understand how students select colleges and universities (Kotler and Fox, 1995). Understanding the choice process of a university is an instrument with high potential for developing universities marketing strategies (Plank and Chiagouris, 1997). Although many studies have tried to investigate which criteria students use to select a college or university, few have tried to analyse this trough a model that allows the interaction of all these criteria. This study presents a model of university choice, analysed through structural equations modelling using the Partial Least Squares approach. |
| Keywords: | Marketing; student recruitment and selection; high institution development; strategic planning. |
| JEL: | I21 C30 M31 I23 |
| Date: | 2007–10–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5523&r=sog |
| By: | Natalia Mishagina (Queen's University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies career mobility of white male doctorates in natural sciences and engineering using the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (1973-2001). The paper focuses on two issues. First, it assesses the relevance of doctoral careers to sciences and engineering (S&E) in general, and research and development in particular. Second, it evaluates participation rates and mobility patterns of doctorates in careers of different types. To analyze how various factors affect mobility, a transition model with competing risks is specified and estimated. The paper finds that only half of doctorates have careers in R&D, and another 8% work in occupations outside the scope of S&E. Employment choices vary throughout a career. Mobility both within- and out of S&E is especially high during the first 16 years on the job. The effects of individual and job characteristics, research productivity, and labor market conditions on transitions are also assessed. |
| Keywords: | duration analysis, competing risks, science and technology workforce, high-skilled labor, occupational choices |
| JEL: | C41 J24 J44 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1137&r=sog |
| By: | Vincenzo Caponi (Department of Economics Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada and The Rimini Centre for Economics Analysis, Rimini, Italy.); Miana Plesca (University of Guelph, Canada) |
| Abstract: | Post-Secondary Education in Canada: Can Ability Bias Explain the Earnings Gap Between College and University Graduates? Using the Canadian General Social Survey we compute returns to post-secondary education relative to high-school. Unlike previous research using Canadian data, our dataset allows us to control for ability selection into higher education. We find strong evidence of positive ability selection into all levels of post-secondary education for men and weaker positive selection for women. Since the ability selection is stronger for higher levels of education, particularly for university, the difference in returns between university and college or trades education decreases slightly after accounting for ability bias. However, a puzzling large gap persists, with university-educated men still earning over 20% more than men with college or trades education. Moreover, contrary to previous Canadian literature that reports higher returns for women, we document that the OLS hourly wage returns to university education are the same for men and women. OLS returns are higher for women only if weekly or yearly wages are considered instead, because university-educated women work more hours than the average. Nevertheless, once we account for ability selection into post-secondary education, we generally find higher returns for women than for men for all wage measures as a result of the stronger ability selection for men. |
| Keywords: | returns to university, returns to college, returns to trades, unobserved ability, selection bias |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I2 C3 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:14-07&r=sog |