Lost in the Storm: The Academic Collaborations That Went Missing in Hurricane ISSAC. (7th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Campos, Raquel; Leon, Fernanda; McQuillin, Ben
• Is Part Of: Economic journal. Volume 128:Number 610(2018)
• Page Start: 995
• Page End: 1018
• Publication Date: 2018-05-07
• Subjects: Economics -- Periodicals; Économie politique -- Périodiques; 330.05
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12566
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-0133

Abstract

Abstract : By exploiting the cancellation of the 2012 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, we investigate the role of conferences in facilitating academic collaboration. We assembled data sets comprising 17, 467 academics, and in difference‐in‐differences analysis we find that the conference cancellation led to a decrease in individuals' likelihood of co‐authoring an article with another attendant by 16%. Moreover, collaborations formed among attendants of (occurring) conferences are associated with more successful co‐publications: an effect which is sharpest for teams that are new or non‐collocated. Conferences seem to de‐cluster the co‐authorship network. Altogether, our findings demonstrate the importance of conferences in scientific production.