Does Science Advance One Funeral at a Time?
Author(s)
Azoulay, Pierre; Fons-Rosen, Christian; Zivin, Joshua S. Graff
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We examine how the premature death of eminent life scientists alters the vitality of their fields. While the flow of articles by collaborators into affected fields decreases after the death of a star scientist, the flow of articles by non-collaborators increases markedly. This surge in contributions from outsiders draws upon a different scientific corpus and is disproportionately likely to be highly cited. While outsiders appear reluctant to challenge leadership within a field when the star is alive, the loss of a luminary provides an opportunity for fields to evolve in new directions that advance the frontier of knowledge.
Date issued
2019-08Department
Sloan School of ManagementJournal
American Economic Review
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Azoulay, Pierre et al. "Does Science Advance One Funeral at a Time?" American Economic Review 109, 8 (August 2019): 2889-2920
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0002-8282