題目：ALPHABETICAL AUTHOR ORDER, INTELLECTUAL COLLABORATION AND HIGH-SKILLED MIGRATION

摘要：We study the consequences of alphaBETical author order in economics for job placements of economists, based on a context that enables a clean identification. Results using two different data sets both show that, relative to Chinese physicists and statisticians, Chinese economists with surname initials located later in the alphaBET tend not to stay in the US and are more likely to work in China. Such effects of surname initials on job placements are clearly identified and represent a result of alphaBETical author order, because in Chinese culture, names are seldom listed alphaBETically in contexts other than joint publications in international economics journals.

研究問題：This paper examines the consequences of alphaBETical author order for job placements of economists, based on a context that enables a cleaner identification: we explore variation in surname initials of Chinese economists, relying on the fact that in Chinese culture, names—in Chinese characters—are seldom listed alphaBETically in contexts other than joint publications in international economics journals

研究動機：Many studies have debated whether the author order is optimal, and Ray and Robson (2018) propose a new one: ‘certified random’.1 In existing empirical studies on this topic, however, an important concern may arise: surname initials may be correlated with potential confounders, due to possible ordering effects in contexts other than economics publications (Deaton, 2009; Cauley and Zax, 2018).

研究設(shè)計：

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)：

• Results show that later surname initials induce the return of Chinese economists after they obtain PhDs in the US, even after controlling for a range of potentially confounding factors.

• Results using this more extensive data set show that later surname initials significantly reduce the probability of Chinese economists working at top US universities

研究貢獻：

• This paper contributes to the literature on alphaBETical author order in economics

• This paper also contributes to the growing literature on highly-educated immigration through admission into PhD programmes

除此之外：文章的圖做得非常好看和有意思

As a graphical illustration, Figure 4 shows that for Chinese economists with publications in the five A+ journals, those who work at one of the top 50 US economics departments have surnames that start earlier in the alphaBET than those who do not; as more journals—the 20 A journals and the 50 journals—are included, the gap is still clear, although smaller, BETween those who work s—a at the top US economics departments and those who do not.