Some Factors Affecting Mobility in the Labor Market for Academic Economists

This study examines the effects of publication, geographic preferences, and institutional preferences on the mobility of academic economists during the period 1955-69. Using a sample of 3813 economists who published at least one article during this period, the analysis indicates that publications do promote upward mobility but to a limited extent. The number of publications rather than their quality promotes mobility, but movement occurs primarily within well-defined geographic regions. The market for academic economists appears to be strongly segmented along geographic lines. Moves within geographic regions tend to be to departments of equal or lesser prestige than the department from which the individual has moved.