Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles
We examine the evolution of economics research using a machine-learning-based classification of publications into fields and styles. The changing field distribution of publications would not seem to favor empirical papers. But economics' empirical shift is a within-field phenomenon; even fields...
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| Format: | Article |
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American Economic Association
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113680 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6992-8956 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6511-4824 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3164-0855 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6885-5847 |
| _version_ | 1811073128806219776 |
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| author | Lu, Susan Feng Angrist, Joshua Azoulay, Pierre Ellison, Glenn David Hill, Ryan Reed |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Lu, Susan Feng Angrist, Joshua Azoulay, Pierre Ellison, Glenn David Hill, Ryan Reed |
| author_sort | Lu, Susan Feng |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We examine the evolution of economics research using a machine-learning-based classification of publications into fields and styles. The changing field distribution of publications would not seem to favor empirical papers. But economics' empirical shift is a within-field phenomenon; even fields that traditionally emphasize theory have gotten more empirical. Empirical work has also come to be more cited than theoretical work. The citation shift is sharpened when citations are weighted by journal importance. Regression analyses of citations per paper show empirical publications reaching citation parity with theoretical publications around 2000. Within fields and journals, however, empirical work is now cited more. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:28:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/113680 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:28:53Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Economic Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1136802022-09-30T14:42:09Z Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles Lu, Susan Feng Angrist, Joshua Azoulay, Pierre Ellison, Glenn David Hill, Ryan Reed Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Sloan School of Management Angrist, Joshua Azoulay, Pierre Ellison, Glenn David Hill, Ryan Reed We examine the evolution of economics research using a machine-learning-based classification of publications into fields and styles. The changing field distribution of publications would not seem to favor empirical papers. But economics' empirical shift is a within-field phenomenon; even fields that traditionally emphasize theory have gotten more empirical. Empirical work has also come to be more cited than theoretical work. The citation shift is sharpened when citations are weighted by journal importance. Regression analyses of citations per paper show empirical publications reaching citation parity with theoretical publications around 2000. Within fields and journals, however, empirical work is now cited more. 2018-02-15T14:17:13Z 2018-02-15T14:17:13Z 2017-05 2018-02-14T18:48:22Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 0002-8282 1944-7981 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113680 Angrist, Joshua et al. “Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles.” American Economic Review 107, 5 (May 2017): 293–297 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6992-8956 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6511-4824 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3164-0855 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6885-5847 http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/AER.P20171117 American Economic Review Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Economic Association American Economic Association |
| spellingShingle | Lu, Susan Feng Angrist, Joshua Azoulay, Pierre Ellison, Glenn David Hill, Ryan Reed Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles |
| title | Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles |
| title_full | Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles |
| title_fullStr | Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles |
| title_short | Economic Research Evolves: Fields and Styles |
| title_sort | economic research evolves fields and styles |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113680 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6992-8956 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6511-4824 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3164-0855 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6885-5847 |
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