We examine determinants of reputation, an inchoate indicator of one'speers' regard. The essential questions are: 1) Does the quantity ofexposures affect reputation independent of their quality? and 2) Does thequality of an individual's most important exposure have any effect beyondits impact on the overall quality of his/her work? Using a variety ofevidence for academic economists, we find that the quantity of theiroutput has essentially no effect on their reputations, but some evidencethat the importance of their most influential work, as measured by thecitations it receives, enhances their reputation beyond its effect on ameasure of the total quality of their work, proxied by its totalcitations. Data on salaries of over 500 economists show, on the contrary,substantial positive effects of numbers of publications, independent ofquality. Overall the results suggest that in the market for reputation onemay be judged disproportionately by quality, particularly of one'sbest-known work, but that salary is determined in ways different fromreputation. |
