Does Science Advance One Funeral at a Time?

Azoulay, P, C Fons-Rosen, and J Graff Zivin, “Does Science Advance One Funeral at a Time?” American Economic Review, 109(2019): 2889-2920.

Download PDF

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 bynon-collaborators increases markedly. This surgeon contributions from outsiders draws upon a different scientific cor-pus 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.