| Abstract: |
Many prior studies suggest that alphabetic ordering confers professional
advantages on authors with earlier surname initials. However, these studies
assume that authors select into coauthorships without regard to the incentives
identified. We consider the alternative and develop a model of endogenous
selection into single and coauthorships for economics, which uses alphabetical
ordering. We then tested it with authorship data from economics, with
management (which does not use alphabetical ordering) as a benchmark. We
predicted that lower "quality" authors with earlier surnames would be less
desirable as coauthors, while higher quality authors with later surnames would
have a lower desire to coauthor. Both types of authors are therefore more
likely to single author. Furthermore, higher quality authors with earlier
surnames should have more and better coauthoring options. Consistent with our
predictions, we found citation ranks were increasing on surnames for
single-authored works and decreasing for coauthored in economics, both
absolutely and compared to management. Also as predicted, this effect is
driven by lower-tier journals in which there is likely a thinner market for
coauthors. Furthermore, comparing citation ranks of first-authors of
alphabetical and nonalphabetical papers shows that the "larger share" effect
of being first is dominated by the "smaller pie" effect of selection from
second authors who will accept a smaller share. |