Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5873
Authors: E. Han Kim; Adair Morse; Luigi Zingales
Abstract: We compile the list of articles published in major refereed economics journals during the last 35 years that have received more than 500 citations. We document major shifts in the mode of contribution and in the importance of different sub-fields: Theory loses out to empirical work, and micro and macro give way to growth and development in the 1990s. While we do not witness any decline in the primacy of production in the United States over the period, the concentration of institutions within the U.S. hosting and training authors of the highly-cited articles has declined substantially.
Keywords: citations; innovations in economics
JEL Codes: A11; B20; O33
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| The landscape of highly cited economics research has shifted significantly over the past 35 years (A14) | Decline in prominence of theoretical contributions (B21) |
| The landscape of highly cited economics research has shifted significantly over the past 35 years (A14) | Surge in empirical research (C91) |
| Growth and development studies have gained prominence (O11) | Shift in methodological preferences within the discipline (B41) |
| Decline in prominence of theoretical contributions (B21) | Shift in methodological preferences within the discipline (B41) |
| The concentration of institutions producing highly cited papers has decreased (A14) | Shift in landscape of highly cited economics research (A14) |