Peer effects in science: evidence from the dismissal of scientists in Nazi Germany

Fabian Waldinger

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper analyses peer effects among university scientists. Specifically, it investigates whether the quality and the number of peers affect the productivity of researchers in physics, chemistry, and mathematics. The usual endogeneity problems related to estimating peer effects are addressed by using the dismissal of scientists by the Nazi government in 1933 as a source of exogenous variation in the peer group of scientists staying in Germany. To investigate localized peer effects, I construct a new panel data set covering the universe of scientists at the German universities from 1925 to 1938 from historical sources. I find no evidence for peer effects at the local level. Even very high-quality scientists do not affect the productivity of their local peers.

Keywords: Peer effects; Academics; Nazi Germany; Jewish scientists; Scientific productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 I23 I28 J15 J24 N33 N44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-04
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (218)

Published in Review of Economic Studies, April, 2012, 79(2), pp. 838-861. ISSN: 0034-6527

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68323/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Peer Effects in Science: Evidence from the Dismissal of Scientists in Nazi Germany (2012)
Working Paper: Peer Effects in Science: Evidence from the Dismissal of Scientists in Nazi Germany (2012)
Working Paper: Peer Effects in Science - Evidence from the Dismissal of Scientists in Nazi Germany (2009)
Working Paper: Peer effects in science: evidence from the dismissal of scientists in Nazi Germany (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:68323

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