Growing Downward: Persistent Inequality in Publishing in Economics

Ricardo Dahis

No 2026-09, Monash Economics Working Papers from Monash University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper documents new facts about concentration in publishing in economics. First, the profession grows downward . The number of economists grew almost sixfold since 1990, but new entrants publish in lower-tier journals while incumbents hold the top. Second, there is high and persistent concentration at the top. Along with the downward growth, the top-1% authors accounted for 38.4% of top-5 publication credit in 1990 and for 78.3% in 2025. Third, the persistence is widespread within cohorts, within subfields, and within gender. Fourth, new journals only slightly dilute concentration. Fifth, elite authors diversify on topics faster than the rest of the profession. We interpret the findings with a screening model of attention under information overload. The evidence is consistent with the model: as the field grows, citations concentrate on established work and the conditional citation premium of top-author papers narrows.

Keywords: economics of science; publishing; concentration; entry; coauthorship; scientometrics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A11 A14 I23 J24 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-lma
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