Abstract
This paper investigates the research productivity of U.S. health economists, both in the past five years and over their careers to date. We examine quantity of overall publications, as well as quantity within categories of journals. We study unique data from a 2005 survey of U.S. health economists who were members of the International Health Economics Association or the Health Economics Interest Group of AcademyHealth. Basic descriptives indicate that senior health economists have considerably greater five-year research productivity than less senior researchers. Roughly a third of health economists employed in economics departments report that publishing in non-economics journals is “not recommended” for promotion and tenure. Regression models indicate that the factors associated with greater productivity include: more hours spent per week on research, experience, and type of academic unit. The findings reported here offer insight into the heterogeneity of health economists and contribute to our understanding of the productivity of academic economists more generally.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Biener L., Garrett C.A., Gilpin E.A., Roman A.M., Currivan D.B. (2004) Consequences of declining survey response rates for smoking prevalence estimates. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 27(3): 254–257
Buchmueller T.C., Dominitz J., Hansen W.L. (1999) Graduate training and the early career productivity of Ph.D. economists. Economics of Education Review 14: 65–77
Cawley J., Morrisey M.A. (2007) The earnings of U.S. health economists. Journal of Health Economics 26: 358–372
Conroy M.E., Dursansky R. (1995) The productivity of economics departments in the U.S.: Publications in core journals. Journal of Economic Literature 33: 1966–1971
Curtin R., Presser S., Singer E. (2000) The effects of response rate changes on the index of consumer sentiment. Public Opinion Quarterly 64: 413–428
Davis W.L. (2007) Economists’ opinions of economists’ work. American Journal of Economics and Sociology 66(2): 267–288
Dusansky R., Venon C.J. (1998) The rankings of U.S. economics departments. Journal of Economic Perspectives 12: 157–170
Feldman R., Morrisey M.A. (1990) Health economics: A report on the field. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 15(3): 627–646
Fuchs V.R. (2000) The future of health economics. Journal of Health Economics 19(2): 141–158
Goodwin T.H., Sauer R.D. (1995) Life cycle productivity in academic research: Evidence form cumulative publishing histories of academic economists. Southern Economic Journal 61(3): 728–743
Keeter S., Kennedy C., Dimock M., Best J., Craighill P. (2006) Gauging the impact of growing non- response on estimates from a national DDD telephone survey. Public Opinion Quarterly 70(5): 759–779
Kennedy P. (1998) A guide to econometrics. (4th ed.). MIT Press, Cambridge
Klein D.B., Stern C. (2007) Is there a free-market economist in the house? The policy views of American Economic Association Members. American Journal of Economics and Sociology 66(2): 309–334
Levin S.G., Stephen P.E. (1991) Research productivity over the life cycle: Evidence for academic scientists. American Economic Review 81(1): 114–132
Morrisey, M. A., & Cawley, J. (2008a). Health economists: Who we are and what we do. Health Economics (forthcoming).
Morrisey, M. A., & Cawley, J. (2008b). Health economists’ views of health policy. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (forthcoming).
National Research Council. (1995). Research-doctorate programs in the United States: Continuity and change. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Resnick J. Jr., Luft H. (2004) How health policy and health services researchers are compensated: Analysis of a nationwide salary survey. Medical Care Research and Review 61(3): 392–408
Stock W.A., Seigfried J.J. (2001) So you want to earn a Ph.D. in economics: How much do you think you’ll make?. Economic Inquiry 39(2): 320–335
Taylor S.W., Fender B.F., Burke K.G. (2006) Unraveling the academic productivity of economists: The opportunity costs of teaching and service. Southern Economic Journal 72(4): 846–859
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Sixth World Congress of the International Health Economics Association in Copenhagen, Denmark on July 10, 2007.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morrisey, M.A., Cawley, J. The production of published research by U.S. academic health economists. Int J Health Care Finance Econ 8, 87–111 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-008-9033-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-008-9033-3