nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2022‒05‒16
three papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Axventure AB

  1. A Model of the Effects of Gender Neutral Tenure Clock Stopping Policies on the Publication Strategies of Junior Faculty By Elisabeth Gugl; Moein Amini; Martin Farnham
  2. Detecting p-Hacking By Elliott, Graham; Kudrin, Nikolay; Wuthrich, Kaspar
  3. The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800) By de la Croix, David; Docquier, Frédéric; Fabre, Alice; Stelter, Robert

  1. By: Elisabeth Gugl; Moein Amini; Martin Farnham
    Abstract: We model the decision of a junior faculty member where to send publications at various points along the tenure track. A single paper arrives exogenously at the start of each of three periods before the tenure decision is made. The researcher has the choice of submitting each paper to either a "Top" journal or a "Regular" journal. The probability of acceptance at a top journal is lower than at a regular journal, but the reward is greater. Researchers need a minimum of 1 top publication or 2 regular publications by the end of the three periods to get tenure. We show that, under reasonable assumptions about gendered childbearing and childrearing responsibilities, introduction of a gender neutral clock stopping (GNCS) policy induces men to submit more papers to top journals, while leaving women’s submission strategies unchanged. This results in more top publications for men under a GNCS policy, while leaving women's publication records unchanged. Our model predictions are largely consistent with the empirical findings of Antecol et al. (2018). Our findings give insights into design of an important “family-friendly” university workplace policy with implications for the “leaky pipeline” in economics, whereby women are especially underrepresented at higher ranks in the discipline.
    Keywords: gender neutral employment policies, tenure standards, gender roles, gender specific costs of child rearing, leaky pipeline
    JEL: J08 J16 M51
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9675&r=
  2. By: Elliott, Graham; Kudrin, Nikolay; Wuthrich, Kaspar
    Abstract: We theoretically analyze the problem of testing for p‐hacking based on distributions of p‐values across multiple studies. We provide general results for when such distributions have testable restrictions (are non‐increasing) under the null of no p‐hacking. We find novel additional testable restrictions for p‐values based on t‐tests. Specifically, the shape of the power functions results in both complete monotonicity as well as bounds on the distribution of p‐values. These testable restrictions result in more powerful tests for the null hypothesis of no p‐hacking. When there is also publication bias, our tests are joint tests for p‐hacking and publication bias. A reanalysis of two prominent data sets shows the usefulness of our new tests.
    Keywords: p-values, p-curve, complete monotonicity, publication bias, Econometrics, Economic Theory, Applied Economics
    Date: 2022–03–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt2p04s3dr&r=
  3. By: de la Croix, David; Docquier, Frédéric; Fabre, Alice; Stelter, Robert (University of Basel)
    Abstract: We argue that market forces shaped the geographic distribution of upper-tail human capital across Europe during the Middle Ages, and contributed to bolstering universities at the dawn of the Humanistic and Scientific Revolutions. We build a unique database of thousands of scholars from university sources covering all of Europe, construct an index of their ability, and map the academic market in the medieval and early modern periods. We show that scholars tended to concentrate in the best universities (agglomeration), that better scholars were more sensitive to the quality of the university (positive sorting) and migrated over greater distances (positive selection). Agglomeration, selection and sorting patterns testify to an integrated academic market, made possible by the use of a common language (Latin).
    Keywords: Upper-Tail Human Capital, Universities, Discrete choice model, Scholars, Publications, Agglomeration
    JEL: N33 O15 I25
    Date: 2022–04–13
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2022/04&r=

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