nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2012‒10‒27
one paper chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

  1. Age and Complementarity in Scientific Collaboration By Matthias Krapf

  1. By: Matthias Krapf (University of Vienna, Department of Business Administration, Austria)
    Abstract: I model research quality as the outcome of a CES production technology that uses human capital measured by publication records as inputs. Investigating a sample of scientific publications with two co-authors I show that the CES-complementarity parameter is a function of the age difference of the authors. Complementarity is maximized if the age difference between the authors is about 10 years. Two theories are presented which may explain my findings. According to these models, older and younger researchers differ not only in their skill levels but also in the types of their skills and their interpersonal relationships.
    Keywords: Academic Collaboration, CES Technology, Team production, Human Capital
    JEL: A14 D24 I23 J24
    Date: 2012–10–17
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1218&r=sog

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