DP5873 What Has Mattered to Economics Since 1970

Author(s):	E Han Kim, Adair Morse, Luigi Zingales
Publication Date:	October 2006
Keyword(s):	citations, innovations in economics
JEL(s):	A11, B20, O33
Programme Areas:	International Macroeconomics, Labour Economics, Public Economics, Financial Economics, Industrial Organization, International Trade and Regional Economics
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=5873

We compile the list of articles published in major refereed economics journals during the last 35 years that have received more than 500 citations. We document major shifts in the mode of contribution and in the importance of different sub-fields: Theory loses out to empirical work, and micro and macro give way to growth and development in the 1990s. While we do not witness any decline in the primacy of production in the United States over the period, the concentration of institutions within the U.S. hosting and training authors of the highly-cited articles has declined substantially.