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Six Dimensions of Concentration in Economics: Evidence from a Large-Scale Data Set

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

Florentin Glötzl  and
Ernest Aigner Open the ORCID record for Ernest Aigner [Opens in a new window]
Florentin Glötzl*
Affiliation:
Institute for Ecological Economics, Department for Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business
Ernest Aigner
Affiliation:
Institute for Ecological Economics, Department for Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: florentin.gloetzl@wu.ac.at
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Argument

This paper argues that the economics discipline is highly concentrated, which may inhibit scientific innovation and change in the future. The argument is based on an empirical investigation of six dimensions of concentration in economics between 1956 and 2016 using a large-scale data set. The results show that North America accounts for nearly half of all articles and three quarters of all citations. Twenty institutions reap a share of 42 percent of citations, five journals a share of 28.5 percent, and 100 authors a share of 15.5 percent. A total of 2.8 percent of citations may be attributed to heterodox schools of thought. Also top articles are concentrated along these dimensions. Overall, concentration has strongly increased over the last six decades.

Keywords

economicsscientometricsconcentrationcitationsbibliometricsinequality
Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 32 , Issue 4: Change and Persistence in Contemporary Economics , December 2019 , pp. 381 - 410
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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