=================== HES POSTING ===================== [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]" ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]