The “ Market ” for Academic Research

It seems that nothing unites the interests of academic economists like the pitfalls and mysteries of the publication process. Despite nearly universal dissatisfaction expressed with the process---and despite journals piled from floor to ceiling unread---economists read, copy, discuss and debate the latest “ranking” article either with much glee or with much condemnation. Such ranking systems are the formalization of the “market test” in academic research, at least in economics. Do you or your department match up to established professional standards by publishing sufficient research in top journals— research that, in turn, becomes recognized by your peers as significant and therefore prestigious? This form of professional introspection was lifted to the “school” level when Sherwin Rosen (1997), a past president of the American Economic Association, declared that the Austrian School of economics did not meet the market test. The ensuing debate has not established agreement, but it has uncovered a general lack of comprehension of exactly what our market test is all about. The academic market test is dissected into its component decision making processes to establish a basis for comparing the commercial market test we know, with the one we seek to pass in academia. Important differences between the two exist, but the academic test passes muster for academic markets, and several issues in the professional debate are thereby resolved. JEL: Z000 *Please note that this draft is made available for purposes of comment and criticism and should not be quoted, copied, or transmitted without the permission of the author. 1 The author would like to thank ............. for helpful comments and criticism.