Editor Reputation and Journal Quality: The Case of Regional Economic Association Journals

Abstract

AbstractThis study provides a formal game that explores how editor reputation and rent seeking play a part in scholarly research that involves regional economic association journals. The game asserts that a regional economic association journal’s reputation is determined by the academic reputation of its editor, the academic reputation of the department wherein the journal is housed, and, among other things, rent seeking by scholars. Evidence from the two most prominent regional economic association journals in the United States, namelyEconomic Inquiryand theSouthern Economic Journal, generally support these aspects of the formal game.