Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together ? Hiring Patterns of Academic Economists in Germany

Abstract

Does the matching between researchers and departments follow a distinct pattern? We analyze the matching between economists and economics departments in Germany based on their research potential as measured in publication output per career time. The findings suggest that the more prolific a researcher the bigger will be the recruiting department and the more prolific will be his or her colleagues. This result is robust and does not change if we distinguish between the first tenure and later changes.