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Collaborating with People Like Me: Ethnic Coauthorship within the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Richard B. Freeman
  • Wei Huang

Abstract

By examining the ethnic identity of authors in over 2.5 million scientific papers written by US-based authors from 1985 to 2008, we find that persons of similar ethnicity coauthor together more frequently than predicted by their proportion among authors. The greater homophily is associated with publication in lower-impact journals and with fewer citations. Meanwhile, papers with authors in more locations and with longer reference lists get published in higher-impact journals and receive more citations. These findings suggest that diversity in inputs by author ethnicity, location, and references leads to greater contributions to science as measured by impact factors and citations.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard B. Freeman & Wei Huang, 2015. "Collaborating with People Like Me: Ethnic Coauthorship within the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(S1), pages 289-318.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/678973
    DOI: 10.1086/678973
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andreas Strotmann & Dangzhi Zhao, 2012. "Author name disambiguation: What difference does it make in author-based citation analysis?," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(9), pages 1820-1833, September.
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    8. William R. Kerr, 2008. "Ethnic Scientific Communities and International Technology Diffusion," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 518-537, August.
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    10. Agrawal, Ajay & Kapur, Devesh & McHale, John, 2008. "How do spatial and social proximity influence knowledge flows? Evidence from patent data," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 258-269, September.
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    12. Richard B. Freeman & Ina Ganguli & Raviv Murciano-Goroff, 2014. "Why and Wherefore of Increased Scientific Collaboration," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 17-48, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Raquel Campos & Fernanda Leon & Ben McQuillin, 2018. "Lost in the Storm: The Academic Collaborations That Went Missing in Hurricane ISSAC," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(610), pages 995-1018, May.
    2. Stéphanie Combes & Pauline Givord, 2018. "Selective matching: gender gap and network formation in research," Working Papers 2018-07, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    3. repec:spr:scient:v:116:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-018-2805-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. David Ong & Ho Fai Chan & Benno Torgler & Yu (Alan) Yang, 2015. "Endogenous selection into single and coauthorships by surname initials in economics and management," CREMA Working Paper Series 2015-01, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    5. Ferrucci, Edoardo & Lissoni, Francesco, 2019. "Foreign inventors in Europe and the United States: Diversity and Patent Quality," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    6. Hsieh, Chih-Sheng & König, Michael D. & Liu, Xiaodong & Zimmermann, Christian, 2018. "Superstar Economists: Coauthorship Networks and Research Output," IZA Discussion Papers 11916, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. repec:kap:jecgro:v:23:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10887-018-9157-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. C. Justin Cook & Jason M. Fletcher, 2018. "High-school genetic diversity and later-life student outcomes: micro-level evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 307-339, September.
    9. Ayoubi, Charles & Pezzoni, Michele & Visentin, Fabiana, 2017. "At the origins of learning: Absorbing knowledge flows from within the team," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 374-387.
    10. repec:eee:ecoedu:v:59:y:2017:i:c:p:29-42 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Cimenler, Oguz & Reeves, Kingsley A. & Skvoretz, John, 2015. "An evaluation of collaborative research in a college of engineering," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 577-590.
    12. Gradstein, Mark & Justman, Moshe, 2018. "Diversity and Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 11553, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Gradstein, Mark & Justman, Moshe, 2019. "Immigration, Diversity and Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 14008, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Francesco LISSONI, 2016. "Migration and Innovation Diffusion : An Eclectic Survey," Cahiers du GREThA 2016-11, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    15. Naci Mocan & Christian Raschke, 2016. "Economic well-being and anti-Semitic, xenophobic, and racist attitudes in Germany," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 1-63, February.
    16. Mohammadi, Ali & Broström, Anders & Franzoni, Chiara, 2015. "Work Force Composition and Innovation: How Diversity in Employees’ Ethnical and Disciplinary Backgrounds Facilitates Knowledge Re-combination," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 413, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    17. Sultan Orazbayev, 2017. "Diversity and collaboration in Economics," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 2017-4, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    18. Hyunju Lee & Alessandra Fogli, 2017. "A Take of Two Americas: the Evolution of Innovation Networks across US Cities," 2017 Meeting Papers 1630, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    19. repec:zbw:kdijep:v:37:y:2015:i:2:p:1-21 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Dutcher, E. Glenn & Rodet, Cortney S., 2018. "Which Two Heads are Better than One? Uncovering the Positive Effects of Diversity in Creative Teams," MPRA Paper 89982, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Charles Ayoubi & Michele Pezzoni & Fabiana Visentin, 2016. "At the Origins of Learning: Absorbing Knowledge Flows from Within or Outside the Team?," GREDEG Working Papers 2016-08, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.
    22. repec:eee:respol:v:48:y:2019:i:3:p:759-774 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Brox, Enzo & Krieger, Tommy, 2019. "Birthplace diversity and team performance," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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