The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Borjas, George J.; Doran, Kirk B.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Notre Dame
• 刊物名称: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-5533
• DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjs015
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 1143-1203
• 关键词: immigration; ideas

摘要

It has been difficult to open up the black box of knowledge production. We use unique international data on the publications, citations, and affiliations of mathematicians to examine the impact of a large, post-1992 influx of Soviet mathematicians on the productivity of their U.S. counterparts. We find a negative productivity effect on those mathematicians whose research overlapped with that of the Soviets. We also document an increased mobility rate (to lower quality institutions and out of active publishing) and a reduced likelihood of producing home run papers. Although the total product of the preexisting American mathematicians shrank, the Soviet contribution to American mathematics filled in the gap. However, there is no evidence that the Soviets greatly increased the size of the mathematics pie. Finally, we find that there are significant international differences in the productivity effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and these international differences can be explained by both differences in the size of the emigre flow into the various countries and in how connected each country is to the global market for mathematical publications. JEL Codes: O31, J61.