Alphabetical Author Order, Intellectual Collaboration and High-Skilled Migration

Abstract

Abstract We study the consequences of alphabetical author order in economics for job placements of economists, based on a context that enables a clean identification. Results using two different data sets both show that, relative to Chinese physicists and statisticians, Chinese economists with surname initials located later in the alphabet tend not to stay in the US and are more likely to work in China. Such effects of surname initials on job placements are clearly identified and represent a result of alphabetical author order, because in Chinese culture, names are seldom listed alphabetically in contexts other than joint publications in international economics journals.