Events at CERGE-EI

Prof. Fabian Waldinger

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany

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Meeting number: 2744 329 5517
Meeting password: 634587

Authors: Ran Abramitzky, Lena Greska, Santiago Perez, Joseph Price, Carlo Schwarz and Fabian Waldinger

Abstract: We explore how socio-economic background shapes academia, collecting the largest dataset of US academics’ backgrounds and research output ever assembled. We find that individuals from poorer backgrounds are severely underrepresented and that representation varies widely across disciplines: more math-intensive disciplines exhibit higher representation. Representation also varies across universities, with particularly low representation at elite universities. While we find no differences in the average number of publications, academics from poorer backgrounds are more likely to both not publish at all and to have outstanding publication records, making them riskier hires. Furthermore, academics from poorer backgrounds introduce more novel scientific concepts but are less likely to receive recognition, as measured by citations and Nobel Prize nominations and awards. Finally, the father’s occupation affects discipline choice and, thus, the direction of research. Academics working in disciplines related to their father’s occupation (e.g., children of therapists who become medicine professors) are more productive.

Keywords: Academics, socio-economic background, Science, US census

Full Text: Climbing the Ivory Tower: How Socio-Economic Background Shapes Academia