Online accessibility of academic articles and the diversity of economics

Konferenzbeitrag

A key aspect of generating new ideas is drawing from different elements of past knowledge and combining them into a new idea. In such a process, the diversity of ideas plays a central role. This paper examines the empirical question of how the internet affected the diversity of new research by making the existing literature accessible online. The internet marks a technological shock which affects how academic scientist search for and browse through published documents. Using article-level data from economics journals for the period 1991 to 2009, we document how online accessibility lead academic economists to draw from a more diverse set of literature for their articles, and to write articles which incorporated more diverse contents.

Object Details

• Language: Deutsch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2012: Neue Wege und Herausforderungen für den Arbeitsmarkt des 21. Jahrhunderts - Session: The Economics of Science and Education ; No. E05-V3

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Role of Economics; Role of Economists; Market for Economists ; Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Boppart, Timo ; Staub, Kevin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/62040
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET