ABSTRACT

Superstardom in the Finance, Accounting, and Economics Scholarly Publication Industry

by Raymond A. K. Cox, John B. Mitchell, and Kee H. Chung

This study examines the existence of the superstar phenomenon using a stochastic model developed by G. Udny Yule and Herbert A. Simon. This model states that the probability mechanism underlying the editor's choice of an author's articles and predicts that author's outputs (articles) will be concentrated among a few lucky individuals. It is found that the "Yule" distribution provides an excellent description of the empirical data in the publishing of finance, accounting, and economics articles. The authors' results suggest a hypothesis that the superstar phenomenon could exist among individuals with equal talent.