IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ukc/ukcedp/1707.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Lost in the Storm: The Academic Collaborations that Went Missing in Hurricane Isaac

Author

Listed:
  • Raquel Campos
  • Fernanda L. L. de Leon
  • Ben McQuillin

Abstract

By exploiting the cancellation of the 2012 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, we investigate the role of conferences in facilitating academic collaboration. We assembled datasets comprising 17,468 academics and 86 million pairs of conference participants. In difference-in-differences analysis, we find the conference cancellation led to a decrease in individuals' likelihood of co-authoring an article with another attendant by 18 percent. Moreover, collaborations formed among attendants of (occurring) conferences are associated with more successful co-publications: an effect which is sharpest for teams that are new or non-collocated. These findings are novel and demonstrate the importance of conferences in scientific production.

Suggested Citation

  • Raquel Campos & Fernanda L. L. de Leon & Ben McQuillin, 2017. "Lost in the Storm: The Academic Collaborations that Went Missing in Hurricane Isaac," Studies in Economics 1707, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    • Handle: RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1707
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/repec/1707.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim, E. Han & Morse, Adair & Zingales, Luigi, 2009. "Are elite universities losing their competitive edge?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 353-381, September.
    2. Benjamin F. Jones, 2009. "The Burden of Knowledge and the "Death of the Renaissance Man": Is Innovation Getting Harder?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 283-317.
    3. Ajay Agrawal & Avi Goldfarb, 2008. "Restructuring Research: Communication Costs and the Democratization of University Innovation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1578-1590, September.
    4. Adam B. Jaffe & Benjamin F. Jones, 2015. "The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number jaff13-1.
    5. Marcel Fafchamps & Sanjeev Goyal & Marco J. van der Leij, 2010. "Matching and Network Effects," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(1), pages 203-231, March.
    6. Jaffe, Adam B. & Jones, Benjamin F. (ed.), 2015. "The Changing Frontier," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226286723, April.
    7. Francine D. Blau & Janet M. Currie & Rachel T. A. Croson & Donna K. Ginther, 2010. "Can Mentoring Help Female Assistant Professors? Interim Results from a Randomized Trial," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 348-352, May.
    8. Richard B. Freeman & Wei Huang, 2015. "Collaborating with People Like Me: Ethnic Coauthorship within the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(S1), pages 289-318.
    9. Richard B. Freeman & Ina Ganguli & Raviv Murciano-Goroff, 2014. "Why and Wherefore of Increased Scientific Collaboration," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 17-48, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Fernanda Leite Lopez de Leon & Ben McQuillin, 2020. "The Role of Conferences on the Pathway to Academic Impact Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(1), pages 164-193.
    11. Kevin J. Boudreau & Tom Brady & Ina Ganguli & Patrick Gaule & Eva Guinan & Anthony Hollenberg & Karim R. Lakhani, 2017. "A Field Experiment on Search Costs and the Formation of Scientific Collaborations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(4), pages 565-576, July.
    12. Waverly W. Ding & Sharon G. Levin & Paula E. Stephan & Anne E. Winkler, 2010. "The Impact of Information Technology on Academic Scientists' Productivity and Collaboration Patterns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1439-1461, September.
    13. Joshua S Gans & Fiona Murray, 2023. "Markets for Scientific Attribution," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(3), pages 828-846.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jens Foerderer, 2020. "Interfirm Exchange and Innovation in Platform Ecosystems: Evidence from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4772-4787, October.
    2. Ina Ganguli & Fabian Waldinger, 2024. "War and Science in Ukraine," Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 165-188.
    3. Laura Hospido & Carlos Sanz, 2021. "Gender Gaps in the Evaluation of Research: Evidence from Submissions to Economics Conferences," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 590-618, June.
    4. Asier Minondo, 2020. "Who presents and where? An analysis of research seminars in US economics departments," Papers 2001.10561, arXiv.org, revised May 2020.
    5. Biermann, Marcus, 2021. "Remote talks: changes to economics seminars during Covid-19," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114429, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Önder, Ali Sina & Schweitzer, Sascha & Yilmazkuday, Hakan, 2021. "Specialization, field distance, and quality in economists’ collaborations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).
    7. Enrico Berkes & Peter Nencka, 2019. "‘Novel’ Ideas: The Effects of Carnegie Libraries on Innovative Activities," 2019 Meeting Papers 1315, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr, 2021. "Conference presentations and academic publishing," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 228-254.
    9. Dennis Essers & Francesco Grigoli & Evgenia Pugacheva, 2022. "Network effects and research collaborations: evidence from IMF Working Paper co-authorship," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7169-7192, December.
    10. Marcus Biermann, 2021. "Remote talks: changes to economics seminars during Covid-19," CEP Discussion Papers dp1759, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. Spiegel, Yossi & Toivanen, Otto, 2022. "From conference submission to publication and citations: Evidence from the EARIE conference," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    12. Rose, Michael E. & Georg, Co-Pierre, 2021. "What 5,000 acknowledgements tell us about informal collaboration in financial economics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    13. Christian Catalini & Christian Fons-Rosen & Patrick Gaulé, 2020. "How Do Travel Costs Shape Collaboration?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(8), pages 3340-3360, August.
    14. Biermann, Marcus, 2024. "Remote talks: Changes to economics seminars during COVID-19," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    15. Misha Teplitskiy & Soya Park & Neil Thompson & David Karger, 2022. "Intentional and serendipitous diffusion of ideas: Evidence from academic conferences," Papers 2209.01175, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    16. Baruffaldi, Stefano & Poege, Felix, 2020. "A Firm Scientific Community: Industry Participation and Knowledge Diffusion," IZA Discussion Papers 13419, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Jacqueline N. Lane & Ina Ganguli & Patrick Gaule & Eva Guinan & Karim R. Lakhani, 2021. "Engineering serendipity: When does knowledge sharing lead to knowledge production?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1215-1244, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Forman, Chris & van Zeebroeck, Nicolas, 2019. "Digital technology adoption and knowledge flows within firms: Can the Internet overcome geographic and technological distance?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    2. Catalini, Christian & Fons-Rosen, Christian & Gaule, Patrick, 2016. "Did Cheaper Flights Change the Direction of Science?," IZA Discussion Papers 9897, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Christian Catalini & Christian Fons-Rosen & Patrick Gaulé, 2020. "How Do Travel Costs Shape Collaboration?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(8), pages 3340-3360, August.
    4. Davies, Benjamin & Gush, Jason & Hendy, Shaun C. & Jaffe, Adam B., 2022. "Research funding and collaboration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    5. Florenta Teodoridis, 2018. "Understanding Team Knowledge Production: The Interrelated Roles of Technology and Expertise," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(8), pages 3625-3648, August.
    6. Wei Cheng, 2022. "Productivity spillovers in endogenous coauthor networks," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(6), pages 3159-3183, December.
    7. Benjamin F. Jones, 2021. "The Rise of Research Teams: Benefits and Costs in Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 191-216, Spring.
    8. Carillo, Maria Rosaria & Papagni, Erasmo & Sapio, Alessandro, 2013. "Do collaborations enhance the high-quality output of scientific institutions? Evidence from the Italian Research Assessment Exercise," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 25-36.
    9. Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr, 2021. "Conference presentations and academic publishing," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 228-254.
    10. Agrawal, Ajay & McHale, John & Oettl, Alexander, 2017. "How stars matter: Recruiting and peer effects in evolutionary biology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 853-867.
    11. Ajay Agrawal & John McHale & Alexander Oettl, 2014. "Collaboration, Stars, and the Changing Organization of Science: Evidence from Evolutionary Biology," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 75-102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Winkler, Anne E. & Glänzel, Wolfgang & Levin, Sharon & Stephan, Paula, 2011. "The Diffusion of Information Technology and the Increased Propensity of Teams to Transcend Institutional and National Borders," IZA Discussion Papers 5857, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Christian Catalini, 2018. "Microgeography and the Direction of Inventive Activity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(9), pages 4348-4364, September.
    14. Laurent R. Bergé, 2017. "Network proximity in the geography of research collaboration," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(4), pages 785-815, November.
    15. Önder, Ali Sina & Schweitzer, Sascha & Yilmazkuday, Hakan, 2021. "Specialization, field distance, and quality in economists’ collaborations," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).
    16. Matthias Krapf, 2015. "Age and complementarity in scientific collaboration," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 751-781, September.
    17. Wernsdorf, Kathrin & Nagler, Markus & Watzinger, Martin, 2022. "ICT, collaboration, and innovation: Evidence from BITNET," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    18. Adam B. Jaffe & Benjamin F. Jones, 2014. "Introduction to "The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy"," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 1-13, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Leonardo Costa Ribeiro & Márcia Siqueira Rapini & Leandro Alves Silva & Eduardo Motta Albuquerque, 2018. "Growth patterns of the network of international collaboration in science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(1), pages 159-179, January.
    20. Jacqueline N. Lane & Ina Ganguli & Patrick Gaule & Eva Guinan & Karim R. Lakhani, 2021. "Engineering serendipity: When does knowledge sharing lead to knowledge production?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1215-1244, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    conference effects; collaboration; formation of teams; production in science;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr Anirban Mitra (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.