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HOW RESEARCH GOES ASTRAY: PATHS AND EQUILIBRIA
Author(s) -
Startz Richard
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/ecin.12908
Subject(s) - imperfect , perfect information , economics , value (mathematics) , positive economics , subject (documents) , quality (philosophy) , path dependence , microeconomics , neoclassical economics , epistemology , computer science , philosophy , linguistics , machine learning , library science
Some research disciplines persist for long periods despite contributing very little to our understanding of the world. In the presence of imperfect information about the quality of research, multiple equilibria can exist in which path dependence leads to disciplines going astray because researchers are incentivized to invest in low value lines of research. Research fields which have high social value are more likely to thrive, as are fields in which results are subject to evidence. Survivorship bias can lead to a distribution across disciplines in which weak disciplines have more talented researchers than do stronger disciplines. ( JEL A11, A12, B40)