Working Paper: NBER ID: w16419
Authors: Glenn Ellison
Abstract: A large literature following Hirsch (2005) has proposed citation-based indexes that could be used to rank academics. This paper examines how well several such indexes match labor market outcomes using data on the citation records of young tenured economists at 25 U.S. departments. Variants of Hirsch's index that emphasize smaller numbers of highly-cited papers perform better than Hirsch's original index and have substantial power to explain which economists are tenured at which departments. Adjustment factors for differences across fields and years of experience are presented.
Keywords: citation data; Hirsch index; labor market outcomes; economics
JEL Codes: A14; I23; O30
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Hirsch-like indexes (C43) | labor market outcomes (J48) |
| nature of the papers (Y40) | tenure decisions (M51) |
| Hirsch index (A14) | perceived quality of economists (A11) |
| adjusted Hirsch indexes (C43) | performance compared to traditional citation counting methods (A14) |