IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0043574.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Nepotism through Shared Last Names: Are We Really Moving from Opinions to Facts?

Author

Listed:
  • Fabio Ferlazzo
  • Stefano Sdoia

Abstract

Nepotistic practices are detrimental for academia. An analysis of shared last names among academics was recently proposed to measure the diffusion of nepotism, the results of which have had a huge resonance. This method was thus proposed to orient the decisions of policy makers concerning cuts and funding. Because of the social relevance of this issue, the validity of this method must be assessed. Thus, we compared results from an analysis of Italian and United Kingdom academic last names, and of Italian last and given names. The results strongly suggest that the analysis of shared last names is not a measure of nepotism, as it is largely affected by social capital, professional networking and demographic effects, whose contribution is difficult to assess. Thus, the analysis of shared last names is not useful for guiding research policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Ferlazzo & Stefano Sdoia, 2012. "Measuring Nepotism through Shared Last Names: Are We Really Moving from Opinions to Facts?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(8), pages 1-6, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0043574
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043574
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043574
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043574&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0043574?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Linda Loury, 2006. "Job Search Among Informal Contacts," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0604, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    2. Bingley, Paul & Corak, Miles & Westergård-Nielsen, Niels C., 2011. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Employers in Canada and Denmark," IZA Discussion Papers 5593, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Laband, David N & Lentz, Bernard F, 1992. "Self-Recruitment in the Legal Profession," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(2), pages 182-201, April.
    4. Peter A. Groothuis & Jana D. Groothuis, 2008. "Nepotism or Family Tradition? A Study of NASCAR Drivers," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(3), pages 250-265, June.
    5. Dunn, Thomas & Holtz-Eakin, Douglas, 2000. "Financial Capital, Human Capital, and the Transition to Self-Employment: Evidence from Intergenerational Links," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 282-305, April.
    6. Laband, David N & Lentz, Bernard F, 1985. "Favorite Sons: Intergenerational Wealth Transfers among Politicians," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(3), pages 395-414, July.
    7. Miles Corak & Patrizio Piraino, 2011. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Employers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 37-68, January.
    8. John D. Storey & Jonathan E. Taylor & David Siegmund, 2004. "Strong control, conservative point estimation and simultaneous conservative consistency of false discovery rates: a unified approach," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 66(1), pages 187-205, February.
    9. Linda Loury, 2006. "Informal Contacts and Job Search Among Young Workers," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0617, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    10. Stefano Allesina, 2011. "Measuring Nepotism through Shared Last Names: The Case of Italian Academia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(8), pages 1-6, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carmen Aina & Cheti Nicoletti, 2014. "The intergenerational transmission of liberal professions: nepotism versus abilities," Discussion Papers 14/14, Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Tan, Youchao & Xiao, Jason & (Colin) Zeng, Cheng & Zou, Hong, 2021. "What's in a name? The valuation effect of directors’ sharing of surnames," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    3. Jolita Vveinhardt & Włodzimierz Sroka, 2020. "Nepotism and Favouritism in Polish and Lithuanian Organizations: The Context of Organisational Microclimate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Juan Gorraiz & Christian Gumpenberger, 2015. "A flexible bibliometric approach for the assessment of professorial appointments," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(3), pages 1699-1719, December.
    5. Nicoletti, Cheti & Aina, Carmen, 2014. "The intergenerational mobility of liberal professions: nepotism versus abilities," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-39, Institute for Social and Economic Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stéphane Benveniste, 2024. "Political and Business Dynasties: a Social Gradient in Returns to Elite Education," AMSE Working Papers 2410, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    2. Carmen Aina & Cheti Nicoletti, 2014. "The intergenerational transmission of liberal professions: nepotism versus abilities," Discussion Papers 14/14, Department of Economics, University of York.
    3. Nicoletti, Cheti & Aina, Carmen, 2014. "The intergenerational mobility of liberal professions: nepotism versus abilities," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-39, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Raitano, Michele & Vona, Francesco, 2021. "Nepotism vs. Specific Skills: The effect of professional liberalization on returns to parental background of Italian lawyers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 489-505.
    5. Zwysen, Wouter, 2013. "Where you go depends on where you come from: the influence of father’s employment status on young adult’s labour market experiences," ISER Working Paper Series 2013-24, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Gaetano Basso & Eleonora Brandimarti & Michele Pellizzari & Giovanni Pica, 2021. "Quality and Selection in Regulated Professions," Development Working Papers 467, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    7. Bodo Knoll & Nadine Riedel & Eva Schlenker, 2017. "He's a Chip Off the Old Block — The Persistence of Occupational Choices Across Generations," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 31(2), pages 174-203, June.
    8. Mocetti, Sauro, 2016. "Dynasties in professions and the role of rents and regulation: Evidence from Italian pharmacies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1-10.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6dffcvpj8t96bpc00heumik4e0 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Maria Knoth Humlum & Anne Brink Nandrup & Nina Smith, 2019. "Closing or reproducing the gender gap? Parental transmission, social norms and education choice," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 455-500, April.
    11. Sauro Mocetti, 2014. "Dynasties in professions: the role of rents," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 995, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Zwysen, Wouter, 2014. "A disadvantaged childhood matters more if local unemployment is high," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-43, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    13. Chen, Wen-Hao & Ostrovsky, Yuri & Piraino, Patrizio, 2017. "Lifecycle variation, errors-in-variables bias and nonlinearities in intergenerational income transmission: new evidence from Canada," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-12.
    14. Bamieh, Omar & Cintolesi, Andrea, 2021. "Intergenerational transmission in regulated professions and the role of familism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 857-879.
    15. Matthew J. Lindquist & Joeri Sol & Mirjam Van Praag, 2015. "Why Do Entrepreneurial Parents Have Entrepreneurial Children?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 269-296.
    16. Arntz, Melanie & Lipowski, Cäcilia & Neidhöfer, Guido & Zierahn, Ulrich, 2022. "Computers as stepping stones? Technological change and equality of labor market opportunities," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-014, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Michele Raitano & Francesco Vona, 2015. "Direct and Indirect Influences of Parental Background on Children's Earnings: a Comparison across Countries and Genders," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 83(4), pages 423-450, July.
    18. Habtamu Gebeyehu Alamineh, 2022. "A Comparative Study on Influencing Factors of University and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Graduate Students Intentions Toward Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Addis Ababa City," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 12(1), pages 83-96, December.
    19. Eesley, Charles & Wang, Yanbo, 2017. "Social influence in career choice: Evidence from a randomized field experiment on entrepreneurial mentorship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 636-650.
    20. Andreas Kuhn & Stefan C. Wolter, 2023. "The strength of gender norms and gender‐stereotypical occupational aspirations among adolescents," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 101-124, February.
    21. Bodo Knoll & Nadine Riedel & Eva Schlenker, 2013. "He's a Chip Off the Old Block: The Persistency of Occupational Choices among Generations," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 561, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0043574. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.