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[NOTE: The following appeared as a "Current Literature" column on the
HAYEK-L list, and was originally published as "Correspondence," _Journal
of Economic Perspectives_. Spring 1998. Vol. 12, No. p. 243. It was
forwarded to HES by Michael Robison. -- RBE.]
The Economics Literature
Professor Rosen (Fall 1997, pp. 139-52) concludes that a successful market
test for economic thought exists: the best, which is neoclassical
economics,
survives and dominates the literature. If so, why does a very common
opinion
exist even among economists that the literature of the mess of current
economic journals is a pile of worthless stuff?
Donald C. Wellington
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
I noticed a delightful similarity in two comments in the Fall 1997 JEP.
On pp. 161-65, Leland Yeager argues that there is lots of good Austrian
economics, but it does not get into the top journals. On pp. 229-30,
Marianne Ferber argues that discrimination against women is prevalent in
economics departments, and that women are at a disadvantage in getting
their work published and cited. Have we found a link between Austrian and
feminist economics?
This implication of both arguments is that some very good work has been
published in lesser journals and has escaped notice. (Yeager also makes
the
point that some very bad work has appeared in top journals, but this
assertion
is uncontroversial, I think, and work that later turns out to be useless is
an
inevitable part of the scientific process.) I find the implication quite
plausible, and it has a policy implication. I wonder whether Professors
Yeager and Ferber could each give us a list of ten good articles that in
their
opinion should have appeared in a top journal but did not? Such lists
would
be educational, and good grist for lunchtime discussions.
Eric Rasmusen
Kelley School of Business
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
Response from Leland B. Yeager
Professor Rasmusen misunderstands my message. I was not whining about
discrimination against Austrian economists and calling for affirmative
action.
I was responding-on invitation to Sherwin Rosen's putdown of Austrian
economics in favor of the neoclassical mainstream. I identified the
insidious
secondhandism pervading academic economics nowadays, exemplified by Rosen's
appeal to a supposed market test.
I was not implying that many excellent Austrian articles worthy of
publication
in prestigious journals have nevertheless been shunted to obscure outlets,
samizdat status, or file drawers. Many Austrian articles have presumably
never been written because their potential authors, recognizing the
difficulty
of publishing them (prestigiously, anyway), instead devoted their energies
to
books, to "strategic articles" (so called by Peter Boettke and explained in
my
paper), or to works of mainstream character. I did say that I had been
influenced by Austrian writings for many decades. Yes, but those writings
were mostly books and pamphlets. Some journal articles by F. A. Hayek were
exceptions; but it is doubtful that even Hayek could get such articles into
mainstream journals nowadays, given the criteria applied (unless the
editors
deferred to his Nobel prize).
Perhaps, as some advisors told me, I should have spurned Rasmusen's
misconceived challenge; but my refusal might have been misinterpreted and
wrongly exploited. Still, as I already made clear, I am in no sense a
spokesman for the Austrian school, nor do I even consider myself an
Austrian
economist. What follows is in no way a list of the top ten unduly
neglected
Austrian articles. For the most part, I have refreshed my memory of
articles
fairly readily at hand. Despite what Rasmusen may perhaps have expected, I
did not feel obliged to hunt down, study, and rank all suggested articles.
I
thank all advisors for their suggestions and apologize to those whose
suggestions do not appear in the list.
Bellante, Don, "Sticky Wages, Efficiency Wages, and Market Process," Reuiew
of
Austrian Economics, 1994, 8:1, 21-33.
Cantor, Paul A., "Hyperinflation and Hyperreality: Thomas Mann in Light of
Austrian Economics," Review of Austrian Economics, 1994, 7:1, 3-29.
Garrison, Roger W., "New Classical and Old Austrian Economics: Equilibrium
Business Cycle Theory in Perspective," Review of Austrian Economics, 1991,
5:1, 91-103.
Keizer, Willem, "Schumpeter's Walrasian Stand in the Socialist Calculation
Debate." In Willem Keizer, Bert Tieben, and Rudy van Zijp, eds. Austrian
Economics in Debate. London and New York: Routledge, 1997, 75-94.
Kirzner, Israel M., "The Primacy of Entrepreneurial Discovery." From The
Prime
Mover of Progress. London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1980. Reprinted
in
Richard M. Edeling, ed. Austrian Economics: A Reader. Hillsdale, MI:
Hillsdale
College Press, 1991, 304-33.
Klein, Daniel B., "Trust for Hire: Voluntary Remedies for Quality and
Safety."
In D.B. Klein, ed. RepUtation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
89-125.
O'Driscoll, Gerald P.Jr., "Spontaneous Order and the Coordination of
Economic
Activities." In Louis M. Spadaro, ed. New Directions in Austrian Economics.
Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1978, 111-42.
Selin, George A., "The Yield on Money Held Revisited: Lessons for Today,"
Market Process, Spring 1987. Reprinted in Peter J. Boettke and David L.
Prychitko, eds. The Market Process. Aldershot, Hant, England; Brookfield,
Vermont: E. Elgar, 1994, 139-55.
Vedder, Richard IL, and Lowell Gallaway, "The Great Depression of 1946,"
Re/ew
of Austrian Economics, 1991, 5:2, 3-31.
Zappia, Carlo, "Private Information, Contractual Arrangements and Hayek's
Knowledge Problem." In Willem Keizer, Bert Tieben, and Rudy van Zijp, eds.
Austrian Economics in Debate. London and New York: Routledge, 1997, 26484.
Response from Marianne A. Ferber
I should mention that I based my conclusion about discrimination in
economics
journals against female authors, not on evidence that some good papers were
turned down (that is always bound to happen), but rather on evidence that
the
acceptance rates of articles that had at least one woman author as compared
to
those that did not were higher in journals that had double-blind refereeing
than in journals where the referees knew the identity of the authors.
Also, I
doubt there is any special affinity between Austrian and feminist
economics,
but rather expect that similar claims would be made by most or all
heterodox
economists.
Nonetheless, I am enclosing a list of ten papers, as you requested, which
in
my view should have been published in more highly ranked journals than the
ones in which they appeared. I did not include any that were published as
chapters of edited books, because some of those might have been written in
response to an invitation. However, I did include papers that may not have
been submitted to other journals. That seems legitimate, because the
authors might well have assumed they did not have much of a chance of
being accepted there.
Agarwal, Bina, " 'Bargaining' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the
Household," Feminist Economics, Spring 1997, 3:1, 1-50.
Bergmann, Barbara R., "Occupational Segregation, Wages and Profits When
Employers Discriminate by Race and Sex," Eastern Economic Journal,
April/July
1974, 1:2-3, 103-10.
Bergmann, Barbara R., and Willlnn A. Darity, Jr., "Social Relations in the
Workplace and Employer Discrimination," Proceedings of the Thirty-Third
Annual
Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association, Madison, 1981,
155-62.
Ferber, Marianne A., "Citations: Are They an Objective Measure of Scholarly
Merit" Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Winter 1986, 11:2,
381-89. [Rejected by the Southern Economic Journal
Folbre, Nancy, "Of Patriarchy Born: The Political Economy of Fertility
Decisions," Feminist Studies, 1983, 92, 261-84. [Rejected by Population and
Development Review] Hill, M. Anne, and Elizabeth M. King, "Women's
Education
and Economic WellBeing," Feminist Economics, Summer 1995, 1:2, 21-46.
Katz, Elizabeth, "The Intra-Household Economics of Voice and Exit,"
Feminist
Economics, Summer 1995, 3:3, 25-46.
Nelson, Julie A., "Gender, Metaphor and the Definition of Economics,"
Economics and Philosophy, Spring 1992, 81, lOS-25. Sawhill, Isabel V.,
"Economic Perspectives on the Family," Daedalus, Spring 1987, 106:2, 11525.
Wan, Barnet, and Nancy Folbre, "Household Services and Economic Growth in
the
United States, 1870-1930," Feminist Economics, Spring 1996, 21, 43-66.
[Rejected by Explorations in Economic History]"
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