The Focus on Poverty in the Most Influential Journals in Economics: A Bibliometric Analysis of the “Blue Ribbon” Journals

Sara Mota Cardoso and Aurora A. C. Teixeira

Poverty & Public Policy, 2020, vol. 12, issue 1, 10-42

Abstract: Scientific publications tend to influence policymakers significantly. Despite the scientific and social importance of poverty today, the attention the top economic journals (American Economic Review; Econometrica; International Economic Review; Journal of Economic Theory; Journal of Political Economy; Quarterly Journal of Economics; Review of Economic Studies) pay to the matter is not clear, particularly in the so‐called “Blue Ribbon” journals (and Review of Economics and Statistics). On the basis of bibliometric techniques, we analyzed all 27,322 articles published in the “Blue Ribbon” journals from 1970 to 2018. This is the first study on the scientific attention paid to poverty by the most influential journals in the field of economics. Two main findings can be highlighted: (i) the scientific attention paid to poverty in the Blue Ribbon journals is relatively meager, but it has observed a positive trend, increasing from a modest 0.36 percent of the total articles published in the 1970s to 1.92 percent of total publications in the 2010s; and (ii) the relative weight of specific poverty subtopics has significantly changed over the last 50 years, shifting from a focus on defining and measuring poverty in the earlier decades to policy‐related issues in the most recent period (2000 onward). 科学出版物往往能显著影响政策制定者。尽管如今贫困在科学和社会两方面具有重要性, 但顶尖经济期刊对该问题的关注却并不清晰, 尤其在所谓的“蓝丝带”系列期刊中也是如此(《美国经济评论》、《计量经济学》、《国际经济评论》、《经济理论期刊》、《政治经济学期刊》、《经济学季刊》、《经济研究评论》、以及《经济学与统计学评论》)。基于文献计量学技术, 我们分析了1970年至2018年期间“蓝丝带”系列期刊发行的共27322篇文章。这是针对经济学领域中最具影响力的期刊对贫困的科学关注的首次研究。 强调了两个主要研究发现: 1)“蓝丝带”系列期刊对贫困的科学关注相对贫乏, 但呈现一个积极的趋势, 20世纪70年代聚焦于贫困的文章占全部文章的0.36%, 这一数字在21世纪10年代增加到1.92%; 2)特定贫困子课题的相对占比在过去50年里发生了显著变化, 从早期几十年聚焦于对贫困的定义和衡量, 到最近期间(2000年以来)对政策相关议题的关注。 Las publicaciones científicas tienden a influir significativamente en los formuladores de políticas. A pesar de la importancia científica y social de la pobreza actual, la atención que las principales revistas económicas prestan al asunto no está clara, particularmente en las llamadas revistas 'Blue Ribbon' (American Economic Review; Econometrica; International Economic Review; Journal of Economic Theory).; Journal of Political Economy; Quarterly Journal of Economics; Review of Economic Studies; and Review of Economics and Statistics). Basado en técnicas bibliométricas, analizamos los 27322 artículos publicados en las revistas "Blue Ribbon" de 1970 a 2018. Este es el primer estudio sobre la atención científica prestada a la pobreza por las revistas más influyentes en el campo de la economía. Se pueden destacar dos hallazgos principales: 1) la atención científica prestada a la pobreza en las revistas Blue Ribbon es relativamente escasa, pero ha observado una tendencia positiva, aumentando de un modesto 0.36% del total de artículos publicados en la década de 1970 a 1.92% del total publicaciones en la década de 2010; y 2) el peso relativo de los subtemas de pobreza específicos ha cambiado significativamente en los últimos cincuenta años, pasando de centrarse en definir y medir la pobreza en las décadas anteriores, a cuestiones relacionadas con políticas en el período más reciente (2000 en adelante).

Date: 2020
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