Academic Scholarship in Light of the 2008 Financial Crisis: Textual Analysis of NBER Working Papers

Arbeitspapier

Textual analysis of 14,270 NBER Working Papers published during 1999–2016 is done to assess the effects of the 2008 crisis on the economics literature. The volume of crisis-related WPs is counter-cyclical, lagging the financial-instability-index. WPs by the Monetary-Economics, Asset-Pricing, and Corporate-Finance program members, hardly refer to “crisis/crises” in the pre-crisis period. As the crisis develops, however, their study-efforts of crisis-related issues increase rapidly. In contrast, WPs in macroeconomics-related programs refer quite extensively in the pre-crisis period to “crisis/crises” and to crises-related topics. Overall, our findings are consistent with the claim that economists were not engaged sufficiently in crises studies before the 2008 crisis. However, counter to the popular image, as soon as the crisis began to unravel, the NBER affiliated economists responded dramatically by switching their focus and efforts to studying and understanding the crisis, its causes and its consequences.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series:

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Role of Economics; Role of Economists; Market for Economists ; Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models: Classification Methods; Cluster Analysis; Principal Components; Factor Models ; Large Data Sets: Modeling and Analysis ; Business Fluctuations; Cycles ; Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy ; Central Banks and Their Policies ; International Finance: General ; Financial Crises ; Financial Institutions and Services: General ; Banks; Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages ; Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation
• Subject: Textual Analysis ; Financial Crises ; LDA ; Topic Modelling ; Securitization ; Repo ; Sudden Stop

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Levy, Daniel ; Mayer, Tamir ; Raviv, Alon
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics
• (where): Ramat Gan
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/214194
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET