Job Market Paper
Exploring the Role of Social Media in the Diffusion of Economic Research [Conference version available; updated version available upon request]
Abstract: For more than a decade, social media have become a key channel for knowledge dissemination used by scientists as a whole, and economists in particular. However, their role in the diffusion of knowledge is understudied. This article investigates the role of social media visibility of working papers on diffusion outcomes. While previous studies focused on the diffusion of STEM research, this article explores the diffusion of economic research. To do so, a data set of all NBER working papers published between 2015-2018, covering their social media mentions, as well as bibliometric and altmetric indicators, is used. To estimate the causal effect of social media visibility on diffusion, an instrumental variable approach, leveraging quasi-random variation in social media posting policy of the NBER's communication office, is employed. The results indicate heterogeneity in the role social media play in the diffusion of economic research. Increased social media visibility of working papers positively affects the likelihood and the extent to which research is diffused to public discourse (measured by blogs and news mentions), within the first year from publication, as well as within the scientific community (measured by academic citations), four years post-publication. No effect on citations in policy documents was found. Lastly, the likelihood to publish a working paper in a peer-reviewed journal is found to be unrelated to social media visibility of the working paper. The results of this article provide evidence for the role social media play in the diffusion of economic knowledge.
Journal Publications (Peer-Reviewed)
When Colleges Graduate: Micro-Level Effects on Publications and Scientific Organization (With Olof Ejermo, Research Policy, 2024) [Open Access]
Abstract: We examine the change in status of three Swedish colleges to universities in 1999. This change greatly expanded the inflow of resources in the form of basic funding to the new universities. Using detailed individual data, we follow the careers of staff employed before 1999 at the treated institutions, examining their scientific performance, promotion, affiliation, and coauthorship behavior after the transition to university and comparing them to that of matched sample researchers at control colleges in a difference-in-differences analysis. We find an 89 percent increase in publication by publishing academics, an effect driven by increased funding. But we do not find an increased likelihood of publishing. Publication activity is concentrated among men, those working in technical sciences, and those holding research positions. The change to a university also led to a shift toward research-enhancing practices and organizations, manifested in coauthorship patterns, affiliations, and workforce composition. These changes altogether, enabled the new universities to begin converging in terms of research productivity to the level of established universities. Our results indicate that additional resources to institutions that historically received insufficient investment unlocked the research potential of aspiring researchers.
Working Papers and Selected Work in Progress
Ready to Fly the Nest? How Autonomy Provisions and Mobility Requirements Shape Researchers' Early Career Choices. (With Hans Christian Kongsted and Valentina Tartari) [Conference version available]
Abstract: The increasing reliance on postdoc positions has been a source of concern in many countries. At the same time, postdoctoral positions have increasingly become a necessary ticket of entry for tenured positions in academia, especially in STEM disciplines. We leverage rich and detailed population-level data to analyze the determinants of early-career choices of PhD graduates in Denmark within all fields. We analyze the effects of a systemic change of funding for postdoc positions away from individual postdoc grants towards (predominantly) embedded postdocs and (few) international mobility grants. We argue this is associated with a general loss of autonomy for researchers in junior positions and our findings suggest that the change may have contributed to recent trends in PhD graduates’ preference for industry over academia. On the contrary, we find no evidence of any significant "brain drain" abroad as a result of this change in postdoc funding regime.
From the Ivory Tower to Capitol Hill: Which Academics Get a Voice in Congressional Hearings? (With Astrid Ulv Thomsen, ongoing) [Extended abstract available upon request]
Congressional Hearings and the Diffusion of Economic Knowledge. (With Astrid Ulv Thomsen, ongoing)
The Effects of Non-Compete Agreements Enforceability on Entrepreneurship in the United States. (with Naomi Hausman, ongoing)
Other Publications
Vetenskaplig produktion och högskolors övergång till universitet: Bakgrund, utveckling och analys av publikationsdata (with Olof Ejermo, Stockholm: SNS förlag, 2023) [Open Access, in Swedish]
English Title: Scientific Output and the Transformation of Colleges into Universities – Background, Development and Analysis of Publication Data
The report makes a broad review of what affects the level of Swedish scientific knowledge production with a focus on the institutional development of the system of higher education and how the structure of employment among researchers has developed. Data on the scientific publication activity of over 25,000 researchers is used to describe who publishes and trends in publication levels. The data are also used to investigate how the rate of publication changed at the three former university colleges in Karlstad, Växjö and Örebro after they were granted university status.
Results:
The authors show that when the higher education institutions in Karlstad, Växjö and Örebro became universities the publication activity increased between 60-80 percent. This is explained mainly by resource additions for research.
The Swedish higher education system has become more teaching-intensive, especially for permanent staff, without the resources allocated for teaching having risen correspondingly.
Foreign-born researchers publish at a clearly higher rate compared to Swedish-born researchers and women’s rate of publishing drop relative to those of men at the age which they tend to become mothers.
Conclusions and Recommendations
There is no established scientific consensus dictating that a priority in scientific research resources allocation should be given to established higher education institutions. On the contrary, the results, based on the experiences of Karlstad, Växjö and Örebro, indicate that strong effects on publications could be obtained even when investing in smaller universities at a relatively low cost.
The immigration system should support foreign-born researchers who are willing to stay in Sweden after defending their thesis. According to the report this group is particularly scientifically productive.
The gender gap in publication should be further researched to shape appropriate policy for gender equality in academia.
The state should review the contents of work contracts in academia which varies by academic institution. Important components of this analysis are not only how different positions are financed through basic and external funding, but also how this interacts with increasingly poorly paid teaching.
Access to the type of publication data used in the empirical analysis can give us further insights scientific production. Funds should be provided to create opportunities to systematically collect such data at UKÄ in collaboration with Statistics Sweden.
Getting to Work in Israel: Locality and Individual Effects (with Tanya Suhoy, Discussion Paper No. 2019.02, Bank of Israel, 2019) [Open Access, in English (pp. 29-42) & Hebrew (pp. 28-41)].
Abstract: We use Social Survey data for 2014-16 and Google Maps data to study the distribution of employees in Israel by their travel modes—and in particular, their dependence on private vehicles. The analysis was conducted from two perspectives: one allows geographical mapping of the localities in Israel by their accessibility to job localities via public transportation (relative to private vehicle), and the second examines, at the individual data level, the impact of the accessibility and of individual characteristics on the choice of travel mode. Mapping Israeli localities by an index of relative accessibility via public transportation to workplaces, calculated in this paper, indicates notable gaps. The more distant home localities are from the metropolises’ core, the less relative accessibility there is. In most localities in the periphery—and particularly in Arab localities—the relative accessibility is low due to the limited supply of public transit. In small Jewish localities in the periphery, accessibility is low, but high socioeconomic levels of these localities may indicate that the low accessibility derives from residents’ preference for private vehicles (given the level of public transportation that can be provided to such localities). In ultra-Orthodox cities and localities, the relative accessibility is high. In many localities with a lower socioeconomic background—particularly in the Arab sector—the relative accessibility is low, while in tandem there are organized shuttle services provided by employers. This mode is efficient in the sense of distance covered in a given time. However, a lack of alternatives creates dependence on such shuttle transportation, which reduces the residents’ employment possibilities and creates among them a dependence on a small number of employers. Analyzing individual effects on the travel mode (using the Discrete Choice Model) given a limited number of alternatives indicates a small (but statistically significant) effect of the trip’s travel time. However, the proximity of bus/train stations and frequency of service markedly increase the probability of choosing those modes of transportation, and reduce the use of private vehicles. In contrast, car maintenance benefits and a company car lead to the choice of private vehicles. The findings also indicate a correlation between a low socioeconomic level (in terms of wages, schooling, and housing density) and a greater tendency to use a bus, and a low attractiveness of the bus mode for upper income deciles. The probability of choosing a bus is markedly lower among private vehicle owners and among workers who are eligible for car maintenance benefits from their employer. Concerning trains, the findings indicate a higher readiness to choose them, when the train is available, both among vehicle owners and among other commuters.
Getting to Work by Public Transportation From Various Localities in Israel: Relative Accessibility Index (with Tanya Suhoy, In Selected Research and Policy Analysis Notes, Bank of Israel Research Department, 2018) [Open Access, in English (pp. 29-42) & Hebrew (pp. 28-41)]
Main results:
About 60 percent of workers in Israel are employed outside their home locality. Of those, two-thirds get to their job locality with a private car, about 20 percent by public transit, and about 10 percent via organized transport (hereafter: shuttles) provided by their employers.
There are clear differences between the localities in Israel in terms of work opportunities that can be accessed by public transport relative to those accessible by private car. An analysis of this variance in relative accessibility can help in the sustainable development of infrastructure.
The more distant home localities are from the metropolis, the less relative accessibility there is.
In most peripheral localities, and particularly in Arab localities, relative accessibility is low due to the limited supply of public transit. In the small Jewish localities in the periphery, accessibility is low, but higher socioeconomic levels may indicate that, taking into account the level of public transit that can be provided to them, the low accessibility is due to residents’ preference for using private cars. In ultra-Orthodox cities and localities, accessibility is relatively high.
In most localities with a low socioeconomic level, particularly in the Arab sector, relative accessibility is low and is accompanied by the prevalence of employers’ shuttles. This mode is efficient in the sense of distance covered in a given time. However, the absence of transport alternatives decreases employment opportunities available to the residents and makes them dependent on a few employers.
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