Superstar Economists: Coauthorship Networks and Research Output

45 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2019

See all articles by Chih-Sheng Hsieh

Chih-Sheng Hsieh

National Taiwan University

Michael D. König

University of Amsterdam

Xiaodong Liu

University of Colorado at Boulder - Department of Economics

Christian Zimmermann

Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 4 versions of this paper

Date Written: 2018

Abstract

We study the impact of research collaborations in coauthorship networks on research output and how optimal funding can maximize it. Through the links in the collaboration network, researchers create spillovers not only to their direct coauthors but also to researchers indirectly linked to them. We characterize the equilibrium when agents collaborate in multiple and possibly overlapping projects. We bring our model to the data by analyzing the coauthorship network of economists registered in the RePEc Author Service. We rank the authors and research institutions according to their contribution to the aggregate research output and thus provide a novel ranking measure that explicitly takes into account the spillover effect generated in the coauthorship network. Moreover, we analyze funding instruments for individual researchers as well as research institutions and compare them with the economics funding program of the National Science Foundation. Our results indicate that, because current funding schemes do not take into account the availability of coauthorship network data, they are illdesigned to take advantage of the spillover effects generated in scientific knowledge production networks.

Keywords: coauthor networks, scientific collaboration, spillovers, key player, research funding, economics of science

JEL Classification: C720, D850, D430, L140, Z130

Suggested Citation

Hsieh, Chih-Sheng and König, Michael D. and Liu, Xiaodong and Zimmermann, Christian, Superstar Economists: Coauthorship Networks and Research Output (2018). CESifo Working Paper No. 7309, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3338638 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3338638

Chih-Sheng Hsieh (Contact Author)

National Taiwan University ( email )

1 Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road
Taipei 106, 106
Taiwan

Michael D. König

University of Amsterdam ( email )

Spui 21
Amsterdam, 1018 WB
Netherlands

Xiaodong Liu

University of Colorado at Boulder - Department of Economics ( email )

Campus Box 256
Boulder, CO 80309
United States

HOME PAGE: http://spot.colorado.edu/~xiaodong/

Christian Zimmermann

Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis ( email )

411 Locust St
Saint Louis, MO 63011
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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