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Are Elite Universities Losing Their Competitive Edge?

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Author Info
E. Han Kim
Adair Morse
Luigi Zingales
Abstract

We study the location-specific component in research productivity of economics and finance faculty who have ever been affiliated with the top 25 universities in the last three decades. We find that there was a positive effect of being affiliated with an elite university in the 1970s; this effect weakened in the 1980s and disappeared in the 1990s. We decompose this university fixed effect and find that its decline is due to the reduced importance of physical access to productive research colleagues. We also find that salaries increased the most where the estimated externality dropped the most, consistent with the hypothesis that the de-localization of this externality makes it more difficult for universities to appropriate any rent. Our results shed some light on the potential effects of the internet revolution on knowledge-based industries.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12245.

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Date of creation: May 2006
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12245

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education Research Institutions
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs
O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Carillo, Maria Rosaria & Papagni, Erasmo & Capitanio, Fabian, 2007. "Effects of social interactions on scientists' productivity," MPRA Paper 7880, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. E. Han Kim & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "What Has Mattered to Economics Since 1970," NBER Working Papers 12526, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Han Kim, E & Morse, Adair & Zingales, Luigi, 2006. "What Has Mattered to Economics Since 1970," CEPR Discussion Papers 5873, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Reuben, Ernesto & Riedl, Arno, 2009. "Enforcement of Contribution Norms in Public Good Games with Heterogeneous Populations," IZA Discussion Papers 4303, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Fabian Waldinger, 2009. "Peer Effects in Science - Evidence from the Dismissal of Scientists in Nazi Germany," CEP Discussion Papers dp0910, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  6. Glenn Ellison, 2007. "Is Peer Review in Decline?," NBER Working Papers 13272, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Waverly W. Ding & Sharon G. Levin & Paula E. Stephan & Anne E. Winkler, 2009. "The Impact of Information Technology on Scientists' Productivity, Quality and Collaboration Patterns," NBER Working Papers 15285, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Christiane Hellmanzik, Department of Economics and IIIS, Trinity College Dublin, 2009. "Artistic Clusters and Modern Artists’ Mobility - An Empirical Study," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp296, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
  9. Ajay K. Agrawal & Avi Goldfarb, 2006. "Restructuring Research: Communication Costs and the Democratization of University Innovation," NBER Working Papers 12812, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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