Economists in the PITS?

Bruno S. Frey ()

No CESifo Working Paper No. 2594, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo Group Munich

Abstract: Academic economists today are caught in a “Publication Impossibility Theorem System” or PITS. To further their careers, they are required to publish in A-journals, but this is impossible for the vast majority because there are few slots open in such journals. Such academic competition is held to provide the right incentives for hard work, but there may be serious negative consequences: the wrong output may be produced in an inefficient way, the wrong people may be selected, and the losers may react in a harmful way. The paper suggests several ways for improvement.

Keywords: academia; economists; publication; journals; incentives; economic methodology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A10 D02 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: Written
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Related works:
Working Paper: Economists in the PITS? (2009)
Working Paper: Economists in the PITS? (2009)
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