Economics of co-authorship

Bruno, Bruno (2010): Economics of co-authorship.

Abstract

Starting from the literature on the rising incidence of co-authorship in economics, choices about co-authorship are analyzed with a theoretical model, assuming that authors optimize the returns from publications. Results show that co-authorship behavior depends both on the technology of the production of economic research and on the reward system that a researcher faces. Two pay structures are considered, one that is proportional to the number of authors and one that is not. The researchers’ heterogeneity implies a trade-off for the policy maker between the objective of effort maximization and the objective of selection of better researchers. The trade-off is more relevant when low-quality researchers choose to engage in opportunistic behavior to gain from higher-quality collaborations.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Co-authorship; Academic research; returns from publications
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D0 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J40 - General; A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A11 - Role of Economics ; Role of Economists ; Market for Economists

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