• In economics journals, the share of theoretical work declined between 2000 and 2024, while empirical research, especially in development, labor, and public economics, expanded and received substantially higher citation counts. • Network analysis of economics journals reveals persistent concentrations of scholarly influence. • In the economics discipline, a small set of elite U.S. universities occupies central positions in citation and co-authorship networks. • Despite changes in research topics and methods, the structure of scholarly knowledge production in economics remains hierarchical, suggesting that intellectual innovation occurs within a stable institutional core. This paper examines patterns in knowledge production within the top-five economics journals from 2000 to 2024. Drawing on the full set of published articles and associated bibliometric details, citations, co-authorship links, and institutional affiliations, I document notable shifts in the orientation of research. The share of theoretical work has declined, while empirical fields, particularly development, labor, and public economics, have expanded. Network analysis shows that although the substantive questions and analytical approaches in top-five journals are changing, a small group of U.S. universities continues to account for a disproportionate share of highly cited work and occupies central positions in citation networks, a core that at the same time facilitates communication and exchange across fields.
Gregori Galofré-Vilà (Sun,) studied this question.