Université de Lausanne
Ecole des HEC
Département d'économétrie et d'économie politique

Thursday September 18, 2008, 13:00
Extranef, room 126

Daniel S. HAMERMESH
(University of Texas at Austin, USA)

Reputation and the Returns to Quality: Evidence from Academe

Abstract
We examine the determinants of reputation, an inchoate indicator of regard by one's peers. The essential questions are: 1) Does the quantity of exposures affect reputation independent of their quality? and 2) Assuming that their overall quality matters for reputation, does the quality of an individual's most important exposure have an extra effect on reputation? Using a variety of evidence for academic economists, we find that the quantity of output has no impact on reputation, but some evidence that the importance of their most influential work enhances their reputation beyond its effect through a measure of overall quality. Quality rankings matter more than measures of absolute quality. Data on salaries show, on the contrary, substantial positive effects of quantity, independent of quality, and little extra effect of the most influential work. Overall the results suggest that in the market for reputation one may be judged disproportionately by quality, particularly of one's best-known work, but that salary is determined in ways different from reputation.

Web site of the seminar (with paper online): http://www.hec.unil.ch/deep/evenements-english/e-sem-all-2008-09.htm