RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Role of Conferences on the Pathway to Academic Impact: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 1116-8387R
DO 10.3368/jhr.55.1.1116-8387R
A1 Fernanda L. L. de Leon
A1 Ben McQuillin
YR 2018
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2018/09/04/jhr.55.1.1116-8387R.abstract
AB We provide evidence for the effectiveness of conferences in promoting academic impact, by exploiting the cancellation—due to “Hurricane Isaac”—of the 2012 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting. We assembled a dataset of 29,142 articles and quantified conference effects, using difference-in-differences regressions. Within four years of being presented at the conference, an article's likelihood of becoming cited increases by five percentage points. We decompose the effects by authorship and provide an account of the underlying mechanisms. Overall, our findings point to the role of short term face-to-face interactions in the formation and dissemination of scientific knowledge.