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on Sociology of Economics |
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Issue of 2009‒07‒03
seven papers chosen by Jonas Holmström Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration |
| By: | Donald Siegel (School of Business University at Albany, SUNY); Stefan Krabel (Max Planck Institute of Economics Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group); Viktor Slavtchev (Max Planck Institute of Economics Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group) |
| Abstract: | We conjecture that the mobility of academic scientists increases the propensity of such agents to engage in academic entrepreneurship. Our empirical analysis is based on a survey of researchers at the Max Planck Society in Germany. We find that mobile scientists are more likely to become nascent entrepreneurs. Thus, it appears that citizenship and foreign-education are important determinants of the early stages of academic entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Academic Entrepreneurship, Human Capital, Scientific Mobility, Knowledge Transfer, Immigrant Entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 O31 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jms:wpaper:3&r=sog |
| By: | Rosalind S Hunter |
| Abstract: | They collect data on the movement and productivity of elite scientists. Their mobility is remarkable: nearly half of the world’s most-cited physicists work outside their country of birth. They show they migrate systematically towards nations with large R&D spending. Their study cannot adjudicate on whether migration improves scientists’ productivity, but we find that movers and stayers have identical h-index citations scores. Immigrants in the UK and US now win Nobel Prizes proportionately less often than earlier. US residents’ h-indexes are relatively high. They describe a framework where a key role is played by low mobility costs in the modern world.[IZA DP No. 4005] |
| Keywords: | mobility; science; brain drain; citations |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2048&r=sog |
| By: | Ferrall, Christopher; Natalia, Mishagina |
| Abstract: | Based on a survey of graduating PhD students in the U.S., we study the determinants of location of their first jobs. We consider how locating in Canada versus the U.S. for all graduates is influenced by both their background and timeÂ-varying factors that affect international mobility. We also study the choice of European graduates between North America and returning to Europe. We find that in many cases macro factors have the expected effect of choices after controlling for biases for home, which depend upon background variables in expected ways. |
| Keywords: | Doctoral Education, International Mobility, Brain Drain |
| JEL: | J6 J44 I2 |
| Date: | 2009–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2009-33&r=sog |
| By: | Prüfer, J.; Walz, U. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We analyze competition among academic faculties for new researchers. The value to individual members through social interaction within the faculty depends on the average status of their fellow members. When competing for new members, existing members trade off the effect of entry on average status of the faculty against the reduction in teaching load that can be bought if no entry takes place and the entrant's wage is saved. We show that the best candidates join the best faculties but that they receive lower wages than some lower-ranking candidates. Endogenizing the governance structure of the faculties, we show that the aggregate surplus of a faculty is maximized if a decision-making rule is implemented that makes the average faculty member pivotal. Our main policy implication is that consensus-based faculties, such as many in Europe, could improve the well-being of their members if they liberalized their internal decision making processes. |
| Keywords: | Academic faculties;university governance;organizational design;status organizations. |
| JEL: | D02 D71 L22 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200949&r=sog |
| By: | Mei Li; Sriram Shankar; Kam Ki Tang (School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | According to Academic Ranking of World Universities, the world’s top 500 universities are owned by only 38 countries, with the US alone having 157 of them. This paper investigates the socioeconomic determinants of the wide performance gap between countries and whether the US’s dominance in the league table is largely due to its economic power or something else. It is found that a large amount of cross country variation in university performance can be explained by just four socioeconomic factors: income, population size, R&D spending, and the national language. It is also found that conditional on the resources that it has, the US is actually underperforming by about 4 to 10 percent. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:391&r=sog |
| By: | Jonathan Meer (Stanford University); Harvey S. Rosen (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | One justification offered for legacy admissions policies at universities is that that they bind entire families to the university. Proponents maintain that these policies have a number of benefits, including increased donations from members of these families. We use a rich set of data from an anonymous selective research institution to investigate which types of family members have the most important effect upon donative behavior. We find that the effects of attendance by members of the younger generation (children, children-in-law, nieces and nephews) are greater than the effects of attendance by older generations (parents, parents-in-law, aunts and uncles). Previous research has indicated that, in a variety of contexts, men and women differ in their altruistic behavior. However, we find that there are no statistically discernible differences between men and women in the way their donations depends on the alumni status of various types of relatives. Neither does the gender of the various types of relatives who attended the uni-versity seem to matter. Thus, for example, the impact of having a son attend the university is no different from the effect of a daughter. |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cepsud:1163&r=sog |
| By: | Ernest Miguélez (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Rosina Moreno (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Jordi Suriñach (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to provide new insights into the well-studied phenomenon of knowledge spillovers. We study one of the main mechanisms through which these spillovers occur, that is, the mobility of highly-skilled individuals. In contrast to earlier studies, we focus on the geographical mobility of inventors across European regions. First, we gather information from PCT patent documents (from the OECD REGPAT database, May 2008 edition) and match the names which seemed to belong to the same inventor using name matching algorithms; second, we create a new algorithm to decide whether each patent applied for under each name belongs to the same inventor, according to set of predetermined characteristics. We use this information to trace the pattern of scientists’ and inventors’ mobility across European regions. |
| Keywords: | inventors’ mobility, knowledge spillovers,name matching algorithms, exploratory data analysis |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:200916&r=sog |