The Demographic and Research Styles of Economics Writing

Daniel Hamermesh

No 17863, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This study examines publications in three leading general economics journals from the 1960s through the 2020s, considering levels and trends in the demographics of authors, methodologies of the studies, and patterns of co-authorship. The average age of authors has increased nearly steadily; there has been a sharp increase in the fraction of female authors; the number of authors per paper has risen steadily; and there has been a pronounced shift to articles using newly generated data. All but the first of these trends have been most pronounced in the most recent decade. The study also examines the relationships among these trends.

Keywords: sociology of economics; co-authors; authorship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-sog
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Working Paper: The Demographic and Research Styles of Economics Writing (2025)
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