What Determines the Academic and Professional Participation of Economists?

This paper investigates into the factors responsible for variations in participation of economists of different countries in academic and professional activities reflected in their intellectual output. It is based on the data published by the Internet Documents in Economics Access Service (IDEAS) for August 2008. It is observed that economists of some countries participate more vigorously in academic and professional activities. The level of development (as measured by per capita income and literacy rate) of a country determines the academic and professional participation of economists. The extent of participation also depends on infrastructural facilities, prevailing academic environment and involvement of the academics in research and publication. Of late, after the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission Report of the Government, The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, is planning to introduce publication-based academic evaluation of teachers for promotion, etc. If the scheme of evaluation is formulated and implemented properly, it may have some positive impacts on the publication-based academic involvement of university and college teachers.