Economic Scholarship at Elite Liberal Arts Colleges: A Citation Analysis with Rankings

Abstract

Although prominent economists at elite universities produce the most influential scholarship, economists at the nation's leading liberal arts colleges make significant contributions. The author measures the influence of 439 economists employed at the 50 top liberal arts colleges and ranks departments and individuals on the basis of citations. The author discovered a hierarchy with a small number of departments whose faculty produce cited scholarship, and a small number of influential economists employed at liberal arts colleges. The determinants of citations are estimated. Greater experience and more publications but not lower teaching loads are correlated with more citations.

Key Words:

• citations
• liberal arts faculty
• rankings

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Howard Bodenhorn

Howard Bodenhorn is a professor of economics at Lafayette College (e-mail: [email protected]). The author thanks Susan Averett, Gregory DeCoster, Deborah Haas-Wilson, Jerry Heavey, James Hughes, Henry Gemery, Joyce Jacobsen, Dan Johnson, David Laband, Mike Lovell, Marshall Medoff, Basil Moore, William Walstad, three anonymous referees, and, especially, Marc Weidenmier for many helpful comments.