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Who is the most sought‐after economist? Ranking economists using Google Trends

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  • Tom Coupé

Abstract

This paper uses Google Trends to rank economists and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using Google Trends compared with other ranking methods, like those based on citations or downloads. I find that Google search intensity rankings make it possible to compare the current impact of both contemporaneous and past economists and that they can help to illustrate the variety in economists' careers that can lead to fame. Given Google Trends' algorithm to allocate searches to individuals (Google Trends' “topics”) is only applied to individuals with sufficiently high search intensity, Google Trends can only be used to rank about 2000 economists who have been regularly searched for on Google. For these sought‐after economists, I find that search intensity rankings based on Google Trends data are only modestly correlated with more traditional measures of scholarly impact.

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  • Tom Coupé, 2022. "Who is the most sought‐after economist? Ranking economists using Google Trends," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(2), pages 611-642, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:89:y:2022:i:2:p:611-642
    DOI: 10.1002/soej.12606
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    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • B30 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - General

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