Specialization Trends in Economics Research: A Large-Scale Study Using Natural Language Processing and Citation Analysis
38 Pages Posted: 26 May 2023 Last revised: 11 Jun 2023
Date Written: May 26, 2023
Abstract
This article conducts a comprehensive analysis of specialization trends within and across fields of economics research. We collect data on 24,273 articles published between 1970 and 2016 in general research economics outlets and employ machine learning techniques to enrich the collected data. Results indicate that theory and econometric methods papers are becoming increasingly specialized, with a narrowing scope and steady or declining citations from outside economics and from other fields of economics research. Conversely, applied papers are covering a broader range of topics, receiving more extramural citations from fields like medicine, and psychology. Trends in applied theory articles are unclear.
Keywords: Evolution of Economic Research, Fields of economics research, Specialization trends, Machine learning, Natural language processing, Citation analysis
JEL Classification: A11, A14
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