Economics and Finance PhDs: Publications, Productivity and Prospects
Yihui Lan, Ken Clements and Zong Ken Chai
UWA Business School
November 2022
1
What do universities do?
2
Complex model: Does this lead to lack of public understanding,
lack of sympathy, if not outright suspicion, of universities??
Higher Education Productivity
ABS
What PhDs Do
3
4
5
6
7
DATA SOURCE
8
960 PhDs
9
UNSW luminaries included sample
10
Oz PhDs completions
Economics
Finance
11
Source: Department of Education, Skills and Employment
Coverage of conference
12
Activities of PhDs
If “not identified” are “non-academic”, then
13
Academic level and age
14
2-dimemsional data
15
Information gaps
16
A PREVIEW
17
Preview, I
18
Preview, II
19
Preview, III
20
Marginal product of experience
(% change in cites pa)
Preview, IV
21
Preview, V
22
Preview, VI
23
Preview, VII
24
RESEARCH BENCHMARKS
25
Three metrics
Publications
h-indexes
26
Citations
Same pattern for all 3 metrics
Portfolio composition
27
ABDC rating
28
All papers
29
AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS DEANS’ COUNCIL RATINGS
30
Role of ABDC ratings
Problems
31
Citations and ratings
32
CITATIONS GENERATION
33
The value of research
Research complex. Difficult to evaluate quality
Advantages of citations
Disadvantages
34
Citations production function
35
36
Level A - D
>2,200 cites
Influence of professors
37
Level A - D
Level E
Cites and Experience
38
Level-E effect
39
Value of pedigree
40
The UNSW effect
41
Marginal product of experience �(% change in cites)
42
Optimisation
43
Max cites
MC
Max surplus
Stop sooner for maximum surplus
44
Max cites
MC
Max surplus
Surplus
WARNING! Goes across different cohorts. Grain of salt necessary.
Citations, h-index and papers -- same story
45
THE ACADEMIC MARKET
46
Where they go
47
Where they are from
48
49
Property I: Own-hires dominate
50
Property II: Influence of Geography
51
Property III: Isolation, outside Koala Triangle
52
JOBS OUTSIDE ACADEMIA
53
The network (247 individuals)
54
ECONOMICS vs FINANCE,�MALE vs FEMALE
55
Econ/finance, shares
56
Econ/finance, shares
Econ/finance, h-indexes
57
Econ/finance, shares
Econ/finance, h-indexes
58
Productivity contrasts
Econ/finance, shares
Econ/finance, h-indexes
59
FURTHER RESULTS
(Some in the paper)
60
61
Conclusion: Sample reasonably representative
Takeaways
62
THANK YOU
63
References
Blaug, M., ed., (1999). Who’s Who in Economics. 3rd edn. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Clements, K. W., and J. Si (2019). “What do Australian Economics PhDs Do?” Australian Economic Review 52: 134-44. Full set of letters contained in UWA Economics Discussion Paper 17.16.
Hamermesh, D. S. (2018). “Citations in Economics: Measurement, Uses and Impacts.” Journal of Economic Literature 56: 115-56.
Lan, Y., K. W. Clements and Z. K. Chai (2022). “Australian PhDs in Economics and Finance: Professional Activities, Productivity and Prospects.” UWA Economics Discussion Paper 22.04.
64
OTHER SLIDES/NOTES
65
Economics and Finance PhDs: Professional Activities, Productivity and Prospects
Yihui Lan, Ken Clements and Zong Ken Chai*
UWA Business School
June 2022
*For helpful discussions and comments, we are grateful to Emiliano Carlevaro, Simon Chang, Shawn Chen, Izan, Alison Preston, Diana Soetjipto, Rod Tyers and participants at a UWA seminar.
66
67
Abstract
This research analyses the careers of more than 600 individuals with PhDs in economics or finance from Australian universities. About 60 percent are in now academia and one-quarter of those are at level E (professor). Publication and citation profiles are constructed that could be useful benchmarks for individuals and institution in assessing research productivity. Academic experience (the number of years since gaining the PhD) is established as a major driver of publications and citations (but subject to diminishing returns). Four findings are noteworthy. (i) For those in academia, the matrix linking PhD-awarding and employing universities is sparse, but contains hints of geographic sub-networks possibly reflecting agglomeration advantages. (ii) Outside the academic sector, there is an encouragingly diverse range of jobs for PhDs. (iii) Female PhDs are substantially under represented, but there is no gender gap in research productivity. (iv) Finance scholars achieve research outcomes little different to economists.
Roadmap
68
ABS is helping
69
Getting a job
70
ANU luminaries included sample
71
20k papers
72
All Papers
19,963
With Algo
18,068
Academic
14,303
Level E
7,520
A*
494
A
1,348
B
1,017
C
304
Non ABDC�4,357
Level D�2,854
A*�155
A�597
B�357
C�106
Non ABDC�1,639
Level C�2,759
A*�141
A�597
B�321
C�81
Non ABDC�1,619
Level B�1,001
A*�63
A�179
B�109
C�19
Non ABDC�631
Level A�169
A*�15
A�39
B�13
C�6
Non ABDC�96
Other
3,765
Non Academic
2,672
Student
72
Not Located
1,021
What PhDs do
73
Total 960
MSA +ABDC ≥1
637
Academic
370
Level E
102
Level D
74
Level C
97
Level B
81
Level A
15
Other
267
Non Academic
150
Student
7
Not Located
110
74
Academic level by cohort
75
76
Publications
77
Citations
78
h-indexes
79
80
Level A - D
81
Level E
82
Level A - D
Level E
83
Level A - D
84
Level E
85
Level A - D
Level E
86
Level A - D
87
Level E
88
Level A - D
Level E
89
Level A - D
90
Level E
91
Level A - D
Level E
Cubic added
92
Cubic added
93
Cites against papers (arithmetic and geometric)
94
h-index against papers (arithmetic and geometric)
95
Influence of professors
96
Level E
Property II: Proximity, Monash to Melbourne
97
Property II (cont’d): Melbourne to Monash
98
UNSW own-hires
99
Who are they?
100
Minxian Yang |
Hazel Bateman |
Bruce Bradbury |
Andrew B Jackson |
Jonathan Kim Huat Lim |
101
Where do they go?
102
Jobs outside academia
103
Universities (other than regular teaching and research) |
| 52 |
Government |
| 54 |
Australian | 25 |
|
State | 19 |
|
Overseas | 10 |
|
Consulting |
| 37 |
Big 4 | 8 |
|
Other | 29 |
|
Other |
| 34 |
International agencies |
| 23 |
World Bank | 5 |
|
Asian Development Bank | 5 |
|
IMF | 3 |
|
UN | 3 |
|
Other | 7 |
|
Central banks |
| 15 |
RBA | 7 |
|
Fed | 2 |
|
Overseas | 6 |
|
Finance sector |
| 12 |
High schools, etc. |
| 7 |
Research institutions |
| 9 |
Commercial banks |
| 4 |
TOTAL |
| 247 |
Jobs in Government
104
AUST. GOVERNMENT |
| 25 |
Treasury | 3 |
|
Aust Bureau of Statistics | 3 |
|
Productivity Commission | 3 |
|
CSIRO | 3 |
|
Aust Taxation Office | 2 |
|
Other | 11 |
|
AUST. STATE GOVTS |
| 19 |
Victoria | 8 |
|
NSW | 5 |
|
Other | 6 |
|
Overseas Governments |
| 10 |
Azerbaijan | 1 |
|
Botswana | 1 |
|
Brazil | 1 |
|
Canada | 2 |
|
Mauritius | 1 |
|
NZ | 1 |
|
Philippines | 1 |
|
UK | 1 |
|
Vietnam | 1 |
|
TOTAL |
| 54 |
Citations per paper �(Medians)
105
106
107
Property III (cont’d): Relative own-hires
108