Economists in the PITS?

Bruno S. Frey ()

No iewwp406, IEW - Working Papers from Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW

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 for the vast majority this is impossible because there are few slots open in such journals. Such academic competition maybe useful to generate hard work, however, there may be serious negative consequences: the wrong output may be produced in an inefficient way, the wrong people may be selected, and losers may react in a harmful way. This paper suggests several ways to remedy this situation.

Keywords: Academia; economists; journals; incentives; economic methodology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A1 D02 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-hpe, nep-ipr, nep-pke and nep-sog
Date: 2009-06

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Related works:
Working Paper: Economists in the PITS? (2009)
Working Paper: Economists in the PITS? (2009)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zur:iewwpx:406

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