Comparing the Early Research Performance of PhD Graduates in Labor Economics in Europe and the USA

Ana Rute Cardoso, Paulo Guimaraes and Klaus Zimmermann ()

No 3898, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper analyzes the early research performance of PhD graduates in labor economics, addressing the following questions: Are there major productivity differences between graduates from American and European institutions? If so, how relevant is the quality of the training received (i.e. ranking of institution and supervisor) and the research environment in the subsequent job placement institution? The population under study consists of labor economics PhD graduates who received their degree in the years 2000 to 2005 in Europe or the USA. Research productivity is evaluated alternatively as the number of publications or the quality-adjusted number of publications of an individual. When restricting the analysis to the number of publications, results suggest a higher productivity by graduates from European universities than from USA universities, but this difference vanishes when accounting for the quality of the publication. The results also indicate that graduates placed at American institutions, in particular top ones, are likely to publish more quality-adjusted articles than their European counterparts. This may be because, when hired, they already have several good acceptances or because of more focused research efforts and clearer career incentives.

Keywords: research productivity; graduate programs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A10 A11 A14 A23 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2008-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published - published in: Scientometrics, 2010, 84 (3), 621-637

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp3898.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Comparing the early research performance of PhD graduates in labor economics in Europe and the USA (2010)
Working Paper: Comparing the Early Research Performance of PhD Graduates in Labour Economics in Europe and the USA (2009)
Working Paper: Comparing the Early Research Performance of PhD Graduates in Labor Economics in Europe and the USA (2008)
Working Paper: Comparing the Early Research Performance of PhD Graduates in Labor Economics in Europe and the USA (2008)
Working Paper: Comparing the Early Research Performance of PhD Graduates in Labor Economics in Europe and the USA
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3898

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().