Slate reports today on an academic study by Paul Oyer, Associate Professor of Economics at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Professor Oyer has published a study that examines, among other things, the impact of one’s first job placement post-Ph.D. on long-term academic success. Writing for Slate, Joel Waldfogel summarizes some of Oyer’s findings:
If the quality of initial placements persistently affects career success, then the academics who start in boom years should remain in better positions five or 10 years out:even though the bust-year graduates were equally talented and qualified when they left the starting gate. And sure enough, five years into their respective careers, members of the boom cohorts are more likely to hold good jobs at Top 50 institutions than similar candidates entering the job market in bust years . . . Boom-year graduates don’t end up in better jobs arbitrarily. Along the way they publish more articles that are more influential. Despite their elite credentials when hired, more than a third of the econ Ph.D.s in Oyer’s study had not published anything 10 years after graduation. The other two-thirds had published an average of 6.2 articles. Starting at a Top 50 institution raised that total by roughly a factor of two.
…. [A]n initial job in a Top 50 institution has an enormous impact, raising the probability of publishing in one of the top five journals by a whopping 50 percent. So, quality of the first job really matters . . . . [I]f fate nudges you into the academic dungeon, you’ll probably stay there.
The full article from Slate is here. Professor Oyer’s paper is here. (Hat tip to Laura Appelman.)
-Posted by Bridget Crawford
