Ranking Economics Journals,Economics Departments,and Economists Using Teaching-Focused Research Productivity

This paper constructs new rankings of economics journals, economics departments, and economists that employ a measure of teaching-focused research productivity, an area of growing importance in recent years. The ranking methodologies presented here use information from articles that were published from 1991 through the early part of 2005 within the Journal of Economic Literature's “economic education” classifications (A200-A290). The Journal of Economic Literature tops the list of journals, followed by the Review of Economics and Statistics and the American Economic Review. Among the top institutions are Vanderbilt University, Indiana University, and the University of Wisconsin. Others that rank high here, such as Oberlin College and Denison University, do not often fare as well using methodologies that evaluate more traditional types of economics research. Finally, among the economists we find that John Siegfried, William Becker, and Michael Watts are ranked above other economists.     

The origin,birth, and adolescence of the review of black political economy and the black economic research center

The Review of Black Political Economy (RBPE) and the Black Economic Research Center (BERC) arose from the atmosphere of the late sixties, when black nationalism was at its apex and vigorous efforts were under way to give meaning to the concepts of “black economic development” and “black capitalism.” They were created as vehicles to assist black economists and economic activists to analyze and disseminate relevant data on black economic affairs and to explore and facilitate new approaches to black economic problems.RBPE offered black economists a place where they could publish their work and share it with their colleagues. The flavor ofRBPE has changed somewhat over its twenty-three year life, becoming less polemical and more scholarly.     

The Scholarly Status of Blacks in the Economics Profession: Have the National Economic Association and the Review of Black Political Economy Mattered?

This paper considers whether the National Economic Association and its journal the Review of Black Political Economy have enhanced the scholarly status of black economists. A bibliometric analysis reveals that while the typical black economist has never published in the Review of Black Political Economy, the share of black economists publishing in the Review of Black Economy approximates the share of all articles published on the economic and political economy of race by black economists, and the share of articles published in the Review of Black Political Economy by black economists appears higher than typical journals in economics—particularly for black economists employed at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We also find that similar to other economics journals non-black economists dominate the share of published articles, and publications in the Review of Black Political Economy appear to be consistent with Lotka’s Law of scientific productivity suggesting that the journal is a standard outlet for research no different from any other science journal. Our results imply a plausible counterfactual that if the National Economic Association and Review of Black Political Economy did not exist, the scholarly status of blacks in the economics profession would have been lower than currently observed.     

Economics: The Sexy Social Science?

Michael Watts of Purdue University organized this symposium as a session at the 2002 Southern Economic Association Meetings in New Orleans. He invited five economists, who are specialists in economic education and other areas, to comment on William Becker's paper, “How to make economics the sexy social science.” which first appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education (December 7, 2001). Their comments and Professor Becker's response appear below.     

The Contribution of Economists to Understanding Racial Health Disparities in the US

Much research on the issue of health disparities in the United States has been produced by health services researchers across disciplines, particularly medical care providers, public health workers and sociologists. Many economists have also studied health disparities. This special issue of Atlantic Economic Journal highlights in particular the role of economic scholarship in this important national debate. This article, introducing the special issue, categorizes the contribution of many economists to the literature on health disparity. The literature reviewed ultimately includes 107 articles published between 1998 and 2008. Articles by any of the 932 economists that were members of the American Society of Health Economists in 2006 publishing about racial/ethnic health disparities as found in Medline, articles related to racial/ethnic health disparities published in Health Economics or the Journal of Health Economics or through searches in EconLit were reviewed for inclusion.     

Theory versus Application: Does Complexity Crowd Out Evidence?

Donald F. Gordon hypothesized that mathematical complexity in economics is inversely related to operational ism. Here we (i) operationalize Gordon's hypothesis, (ii) test for the significance of trends in complexity for the American Economic Review, Economic Journal, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics, and (iii) test Gordon's hypothesis hy conducting analyses of the contents of articles from the American Economic Review (AER), as well as the contents of articles citing the AER articles. The results do not refute the hypothesis that complexity crowds out operationalism in economics. Additionally, the presence of significant, positive trends toward complexity suggests that the magnitude of the crowding out is on the rise in these journals.     

The legacy of Ricardo Giovanni A. Caravale,Ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1985, 325 pp.

Conclusion The existence of competing interpretations of classics such as Ricardo, is one aspect of the continuation of distinct lines of inquiry in economic theorizing. This feature of economic knowledge may be related to the fact that theorizing in economics is often characterized by the specialized use of ordinary economic language, so that each theory generally derives its primitive terms from ordinary language through what one might call semantic specialization.Awareness of the history of economic concepts is essential to the interpretation of current economic controversies. Moreover, the history of economic thought should be based upon explicit recognition that alternative patterns of semantic specialization do exist in economic analysis and that distinct lines of inquiry are derived therefrom. Explicit recognition that disagreement is possible is an essential prerequisite for dialogues between distinct lines of research.The collection edited by Caravale is an important contribution which provides impressive evidence of the fundamental role that theoretical beliefs play in matters of textual interpretation. As such, the book is essential reading both to Ricardian scholars and to economists interested in the general issue of how analytical work and intellectual history interact upon each other in the formation of economic knowledge.This review article is part of the exchange of reviews between theAtlantic Economic Journal and theRivista Internatzionale Di Scienze Economiche E Commerciali (International Review of Economics and Business). L. E. Johnson is doing the reciprocal review of this book. The author acknowledges research support from the Italian National Research Council (CT 86.01257.10).     

Probability and the synthetic <Emphasis Type="Italic">a Priori</Emphasis>: A reply to block

Conclusion Contrary to Block, the synthetic a priori has little to do with our dispute. My critique of the Austrians is not that their methods are “unscientific,” but that their most distinctive positions are false or overstated. Yet Block’s latest reply does inadvertently make Austrian economics more reasonable. If synthetic a priori claims vary in degree of probability, they can no longer be treated as scientifically superior to empirical claims. Furthermore, while empirically testing absolutely certain synthetic a priori claims is pointless, empirically testing uncertain synthetic a priori claims is not. As is often the case with Austrians, Block is better at criticizing neoclassicals than he is at producing a sound alternative. He is right that most economists do not practice the logical positivism that they preach. He is also correct to maintain that logical positivism is mistaken. However, both of these problems can be resolved if neoclassical economists themselves adopt the Bayesian model of belief formation that they routinely apply to everyone else.     

Specification and estimation of the unemployment-vacancy curve in the period 1956–1979

Summary The aim of this article is to improve the specification of theUV curve to get satisfactory statistical results for the whole post war period up to 1979. This is done by including a dummy structure and the utilisation rate of production capacity. Results are presented for macro-data, data for men and women separately also at a regional level. Moreover, indicators were developed to represent some causes of the increase in unemployment due to market imperfections for the 1970–1979 period. These indicators were used as explanatory variables in a regression to explain the increase of unemployment due to market imperfections in the 1970–1979 period. Ministry of Economic Affairs (Directorate for General Ecomomic Policy The author is indebted to Professor S.K. Kuipers for his helpful remarks. This article has been written à titre personnel.     

A method for identifying the most influential articles in an academic discipline

This paper develops a methodology, based on citation counts, for classifying journal articles as highly-cited, pre-classic, classic and super-classic. In order to establish the benchmark measures necessary for such classification, a citation analysis was done of all main articles produced in the American Economic Review from 1965 through 1985. Using the established benchmarks, 127 articles published during the review period met the minimum criteria for at least highly-cited status. In addition, a subset of 17 articles were designated as either classic or super-classic. An additional 11 articles were on a yearly citation pace to become classics and were classified as pre-classic. A few of the characteristics of these papers are noted. Evidence from other studies is presented to support the methodology developed here.The authors are grateful to Tim Perri, Fred Wallace and David Laband for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

William graham sumner: Monetary theorist

Conclusion Sumner was the product of an indigenous American hard-money tradition that embraced free markets, free trade, and sound banking—a tradition that has much in common with the Austrian School in its theoretical and political orientation. His understanding of economic theory came from his reading of classical economists and the works of American theorist Condy Raguet, and his political convictions from his study of the American monetary experience, particularly the errors of the Hamiltonians. With these influences and his own hard-money views, Sumner arrived at positions on money, banking, and business cycles, economic policy that can be described as proto-Austrian in many ways. In particular, he saw credit-fueled booms as inherently unsustainable because they give rise to “fictitious capital” as versus real wealth.     

Clio en de computer Clio and the computer

Summary In this farewell address, delivered on the occasion of his retirement from the chair of economic history in the University of Amsterdam, the author deals with the movement among economic historians in the United States, called New Economic History. This movement is characterised by the endeavours to introduce new methods in economic historiography by making use of economic theory and statistics. Although the author agrees that there is room for a critical attitude as to the way in which economic history has so far mainly been studied, he is of opinion that the importance of the said movement should not be exaggerated. He draws attention to the fact that there is only room for applying theoretical models and econometrics as far as modern periods of economic growth are concerned. He also points out that the economic historian should not confine his investigations to measuring economic growth. Economic historians have also to deal with a number ofimponderabilia: social, cultural, religious, legal, psychological and other developments. In the third place the New Economic History is by no means as new as his adherents seem to think. The economists of the so-called Historical School have already extended more than a century ago their studies to historical developments. The study of the trade cycle, which can roughly been said to have been started in the twenties of the present century, is a remarkable example of a combination between economic history and economic theory. The change in the methods employed by economic historians has been already on the way for a considerable time. There is therefore no reason to call the application of the methods recommended by the adherents of the so-called New Economic History as a new phenomenon. The author agrees, however, with the view that there should be a closer collaboration between economic historians, economists and statisticians.tekst (bier en daar gewijzigd of aangevuld) van bet afscheidcollege, door mij op 29 September 1967 gegeven in de aula der Universiteit van Amsterdam.     

制度经济学的理论发展与前沿理论展望

自从沃尔顿·汉密尔顿1918年在美国经济学年会提出的"经济理论的制度分析方法"以来,制度经济学的理论发展已经历经百年。文章尝试对制度经济学主要理论发展脉络进行梳理和剖析,着重阐述制度均衡分析从完全合同理论到不完全合同理论的发展,以及制度演化分析从演化到共同演化理论的发展,并基于均衡分析和演化分析的范式融合与超越,展望前沿理论的发展方向。制度经济学的前沿理论发展需要将制度的激励功能和认知功能、将个体的选择行为和被环境选择行为、将均衡的产生和内生演变等纳入统一分析中。     

Traps for the American and world economies. Apropos the Russian translation of Joseph E. Stiglitz’s The Roaring Nineties. Seeds of Destruction (Sovremennaya ekonomika i pravo, Moscow, 2005)

The appearance of a new book by the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics Joseph Stiglitz, The Roaring Nineties. Seeds of Destruction (Norton, New York, 2003), was a major event in world economics. The author is more than merely an eminent American scholar. He served in the Clinton Administration as chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors (1993–1997). At the World Bank, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist (1997–January 2001), took part in economic policy making in the United States and around the world, and visited dozens of countries. The Russian translation of his work was made by G. G. Pirogov, Dr. Sci. (Polit.), who succeeded in bringing home to the reader the frenetic spirit of Stiglitz’s ideas and making in the shape of notes important addenda and elucidations that develop the book’s ideas.     

Crime, Job Searches, and Economic Growth

This paper constructs a theoretical model with which to analyze the puzzling links between unemployment and crime rates, described in the literature. Most theoretical papers on crime, such as Becker Journal of Political Economy 76, 169–217, (1968), Ehrlich Journal of Political Economy 81, 521–565, (1973), and İmrohoroğlu et al. International Economic Review 41, 1–25, (2000), emphasize the analysis of the equilibrium crime rate, dealing with the unemployment rate as an exogenous parameter, but little attention has been devoted to investigating the influence of the criminal market on the equilibrium unemployment rate in the labor market and how these markets interact. This paper illustrates how the causes of crime play a crucial role in the unemployment-crime relationship, wherein different causality result in different associative relationships between unemployment and crime. The aforementioned conclusion illustrates the theory explaining why the empirical findings related to the unemployment-crime relationship are mixed and equivocal. Second, this paper describes the diverse origins of crime, in which employed workers and unemployed workers have different incentives for entering a life of crime. Employed and unemployed workers assume different opportunity costs by engaging in criminal activities, resulting in different effects on the economy. This explains why crime rates relative to unemployment rates in different countries could be either procyclical or countercyclical.     

How much have been the export products changed from homogeneous to differentiated? Evidence from China, Japan, and Korea

Many international trade theories and evidence suggest that trade in homogeneous and differentiated goods is different, and trade performance depends significantly on the extent of product differentiation. First this paper classifies the three countries' export products using Rauch's [Rauch, J. (1999). Networks versus markets in international trade. Journal of International Economics, 48, 7–35] classification scheme. This paper suggests a sophisticated technique to obtain the extent of product differentiation in a country's export, implied by Dixit and Stiglitz [Dixit, A., & Stiglitz, J. (1977). Monopolistic competition and optimum product variety. The American Economic Review, 67, 297–308] model in which the smaller is the elasticity of substitution between varieties the greater is the extent of product differentiation. This is an attempt to identify the extent of product differentiation in each country's export basket by estimates of the elasticity of substitution. The estimated elasticities of substitution vary across countries. The most interesting empirical finding is that the China's export structure has been rapidly shaped into differentiated products. However the extent of product differentiation in Japan and Korea's exports has relatively less varied.     

Robert Browne and the Caucus of Black Economics

Robert S. Browne the founder of the Black Economic Research Center (BERC) and the Review of Black Political Economy was a charter founder of the Caucus of Black Economists. He played an important role in the leadership of the Caucus and its efforts to increase the supply of black economists, to expand research efforts on issues of relevance to black constituencies in urban and rural America. His entrepreneurial efforts have left an indelible record of achievements which continue to influence research by black economists and practical results for economic development institutions in black communities.     

Labor market effects of import competition: Theory and evidence from the textile and apparel industries

Since the early 1980s, much attention has been given to the possibility of trade-related job losses and wage effects in the textile and apparel industries. This paper uses aggregate time series data from the Annual Survey of Manufacturers [Bartlesman and Gray, 1996] with import price data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics [Alterman, 1991] for 1977–91 to test the effect of imports on employment and wages in textiles and apparel. Theoretical models suggest that import competition should be a factor in the determination of employment, and possibly wages, regardless of whether the U.S. is represented as a price-setter or price-taker. The empirical analysis provides some support. The author appreciates the helpful comments of Barry T. Hirsch, participants at the Georgia Southern University economics seminar in November 1997, and the editorial assistance of a reviewer for theAtlantic Economic Journal.     

Dynamic Adjustment to Regional Integration: Europe 1992 and NAFTA

Recent research on the gains to trade liberalization, especially in a number of papers by Richard Baldwin, suggests that the static gains to trade liberalization that many economists attempt to measure may be dwarfed by the dynamic gains. One source of these dynamic gains is through capital accumulation. A similar argument can be made regarding the consequences of regional integration. As distortions are removed the effects of aggregate output through dynamic adjustments are likely to be larger than simple static calculations suggest. This paper focuses on the issue of the dynamic gains to regional integration for two recent episodes, European integration known as Europe 1992, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The paper provides empirical results on the size and nature of global and regional adjustments to these two examples of regional integration. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 1994, 8(4), pp. 422–453. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia; and Brookings Institution, Washington, DC 20036.     

Composite global indicators from survey data: the Global Economic Barometers

Review of World Economics - This paper presents a coincident and a leading composite monthly indicator for the world business cycle—the Global Economic Barometers. Both target the...