Working Paper

Nobel Students Beget Nobel Professors

Richard S. J. Tol
CESifo, Munich, 2022

CESifo Working Paper No. 9860

It is unclear whether the hierarchy in the economics profession is the result of the agglomeration of excellence or of nepotism. I construct the professor-student network for laureates of and candidates for the Nobel Prize in Economics. I study the effect of proximity to previous Nobelists on winning the Nobel Prize. Conditional on being Nobel-worthy, students and grandstudents of Nobel laureates are not significantly more or less likely to win. Professors of Nobel Prize winners, however, are significantly more likely to win.

CESifo Category
Economics of Education
Keywords: network formation, research training, Nobel prize
JEL Classification: A140, D850, Z130