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Economists in the PITS?

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  • Bruno S. Frey

Abstract

Academic economists today are caught in a “Publication Impossibility Theorem System” or PITS. To further their careers, they are required to publish in A-journals, but this is impossible for the vast majority because there are few slots open in such journals. Such academic competition is held to provide the right incentives for hard work, but there may be serious negative consequences: the wrong output may be produced in an inefficient way, the wrong people may be selected, and the losers may react in a harmful way. The paper suggests several ways for improvement.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno S. Frey, 2009. "Economists in the PITS?," CESifo Working Paper Series 2594, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2594
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Catch-22 for publish-and-perish
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2009-03-17 13:13:00
    2. Are we the PITS?
      by Ferg in Geary Behaviour Centre on 2009-03-16 15:35:00

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    Cited by:

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    2. Jean-Yves Lesueur, 2010. "La production scientifique des enseignants-chercheurs en économie : Quelques résultats économétriques issus du dispositif PES," Post-Print halshs-00537859, HAL.
    3. Gérard Charreaux, 2011. "«Cité ou oublié»:les supports de la notoriété des professeurs en sciences de gestion vus à travers Google Scholar," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 14(4), pages 129-166, December.
    4. Peter Andre & Armin Falk, 2021. "What’s Worth Knowing? Economists’ Opinions about Economics," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 102, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    5. Wolfram Elsner & Fred Lee, 2010. "Assessing economic research and the future of heterodox economics. Failures and alternatives of journals, departments, and scholars rankings," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 7(1), pages 31-41.
    6. Simon Ek & Magnus Henrekson, 2019. "The Geography and Concentration of Authorship in the Top Five: Implications For European Economics," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 66(2), pages 215-245, May.
    7. Libman, A., 2011. "German Economics: Mechanisms of Transformation," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, issue 9, pages 129-149.
    8. Tüselmann, Heinz & Sinkovics, Rudolf R. & Pishchulov, Grigory, 2016. "Revisiting the standing of international business journals in the competitive landscape," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 487-498.
    9. Damien Besancenot & Kim Huynh & Radu Vranceanu, 2011. "A Matching Model of the Academic Publication Market," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 167(4), pages 708-725, December.
    10. Hensel, Przemysław G., 2021. "Reproducibility and replicability crisis: How management compares to psychology and economics – A systematic review of literature," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 577-594.
    11. Osterloh, Margit & Frey, Bruno S., 2020. "How to avoid borrowed plumes in academia," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    12. Bruno S. Frey, 2009. "A multiplicity of approaches to institutional analysis. Applications to the government and the arts," IEW - Working Papers 420, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    13. Gregory N. Price & Rhonda V. Sharpe, 2020. "Is the Economics Knowledge Production Function Constrained by Race in the USA?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(2), pages 614-629, June.
    14. Ho Fai Chan & Nikita Ferguson & David A. Savage & David Stadelmann & Benno Torgler, 2020. "Is Science Able to Perform Under Pressure? Insights from COVID-19," CREMA Working Paper Series 2020-07, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    15. Doris Fischer, 2014. "The Impact of Changing Incentives in China on International Cooperation in Social Science Research on China," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 43(2), pages 33-46.
    16. Wolfram Elsner & Frederic S. Lee, 2010. "Editors' Introduction," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(5), pages 1333-1344, November.
    17. Marco Novarese & Andrea Pozzali, 2010. "Heterodox Economics and the Scientist's Role in Society," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(5), pages 1614-1635, November.
    18. Bruno S. Frey, 2020. "What are the opportunities for future happiness research?," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(1), pages 5-12, March.
    19. Sergio Da Silva, 2009. "Going parochial in the assessment of the Brazilian economics research output," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(4), pages 2832-2852.
    20. Ross Guest, 2009. "Seeking the elusive town and gown dialogue: the inaugural Australian Economic Forum," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 107-116.
    21. Bagrat Yerznkyan, 2012. "Institutional Economics At The Crossroads: A View From Russia," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 8(1), pages 27-45.
    22. Johansson, Dan & Karlsson, Johan & Malm, Arvid, 2020. "Family business—A missing link in economics?," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(1).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    academia; economists; publication; journals; incentives; economic methodology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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