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Do Economists Swing for the Fences after Tenure?

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan Brogaard
  • Joseph Engelberg
  • Edward Van Wesep

Abstract

Using a sample of all academics who pass through top 50 economics and finance departments from 1996 through 2014, we study whether the granting of tenure leads faculty to pursue riskier ideas. We use the extreme tails of ex-post citations as our measure of risk and find that both the number of publications and the portion consisting of "home runs" peak at tenure and fall steadily for a decade thereafter. Similar patterns hold for faculty at elite (top 10) institutions and for faculty who take differing time to tenure. We find the opposite pattern among poorly cited publications: their numbers rise post-tenure.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Brogaard & Joseph Engelberg & Edward Van Wesep, 2018. "Do Economists Swing for the Fences after Tenure?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(1), pages 179-194, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:32:y:2018:i:1:p:179-94
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.32.1.179
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hendrik P. Dalen, 2021. "How the publish-or-perish principle divides a science: the case of economists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1675-1694, February.
    2. Muhammad Asali, 2019. "A tale of two tracks," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 323-337, May.
    3. Franklin G. Mixon, 2018. "Do academics swing for the fences after tenure? Analysis of attributions data from economics research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 2155-2160, September.
    4. Mila Getmansky Sherman & Heather E. Tookes, 2022. "Female Representation in the Academic Finance Profession," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 317-365, February.
    5. Stremersch, S. & Winer, R.S., 2018. "Academic Research in Marketing and Business School Health," ERIM Report Series Research in Management 116485, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    6. van Dalen, Hendrik Peter, 2021. "How the publish-or-perish principle divides a science: The case of economists," Other publications TiSEM a6a5a855-bb5a-4d52-a841-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Corsi, Marcella & D’Ippoliti, Carlo & Zacchia, Giulia, 2019. "Diversity of backgrounds and ideas: The case of research evaluation in economics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    8. Stremersch, S. & Winer, R.S., 2018. "Academic Research in Marketing and Business School Health: Limiters and Improvement Opportunities," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2019-007-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    9. van Dalen, Hendrik Peter, 2020. "How the Publish-or-Perish Principle Divides a Science : The Case of Academic Economists," Discussion Paper 2020-020, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    10. Jean Luc De Meulemeester, 2020. "De quelques préconditions à la liberté académique," Working Papers CEB 20-013, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. João Ricardo Faria & Franklin G. Mixon, 2020. "The Peter and Dilbert Principles applied to academe," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 115-132, June.
    12. Kyle R. Myers & Wei Yang Tham & Jerry Thursby & Marie Thursby & Nina Cohodes & Karim Lakhani & Rachel Mural & Yilun Xu, 2023. "New Facts and Data about Professors and their Research," Papers 2312.01442, arXiv.org.
    13. Franklin G. Mixon & Kamal P. Upadhyaya, 2024. "When forgiveness beats permission: Exploring the scholarly ethos of clinical faculty in economics," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 75-91, January.
    14. Jenny Bourne & Nathan Grawe & Nathan D. Grawe & Michael Hemesath & Maya Jensen, 2022. "Scholarly Activity among Economists at Liberal Arts Colleges: A Life Cycle Analysis," Working Papers 2022-01, Carleton College, Department of Economics.
    15. Jon A. Garfinkel & Mosab Hammoudeh & James Weston, 2024. "Academic publishing behavior and pay across business fields," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 31-58, March.
    16. Asali, Muhammad, 2018. "A Tale of Two Academic Tracks," IZA Discussion Papers 11423, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Stremersch, S. & Winer, R.S. & Camacho, N.M.A., 2020. "Faculty Research Incentives and Business School Health: A New Perspective for Marketing," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2020-007-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    18. Rajeev K. Goel & Devrim Göktepe-Hultén, 2020. "Drivers of innovation productivity of academic researchers through career advancement," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 414-429, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General

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