Networks and Productivity: Causal Evidence from Editor Rotations*

Using detailed publication and citation data for over 50,000 articles from 30 major economics and finance journals, we investigate whether network proximity to an editor influences research productivity. During an editor’s tenure, his current university colleagues publish about 100% more papers in the editor’s journal, compared to years when he was not editor. In contrast to editorial nepotism, such “inside” articles have significantly higher ex post citation counts, even when same-journal and self-cites are excluded. Our results thus suggest that despite potential conflicts of interest faced by editors, personal associations are used to improve selection decisions. * We have benefited from discussions with Kenneth Ahern, Malcolm Baker, Jay Hartzell, Han Kim, Richard Ruback, Jeremy Stein, Paul Tetlock, Allan Timmerman, Sheridan Titman, and especially Adolfo de Motta. We also thank seminar participants at Harvard, UCSD Economics, Florida State, New York University, and the University of Washington. Contact: Jonathan Brogaard, Foster School of Business, University of Washington, (Email) [email protected] , (Tel) 206-685-7822; Joseph Engelberg, University of California – San Diego, Rady School of Management, (Email) [email protected] (Tel) 858-822-7912; and Christopher Parsons, University of California – San Diego, Rady School of Management, (Email) [email protected] (Tel) 919-265-9246.