Am. Econ. Rev. 109, 2889–2920 (2019)

Does science advance one death at a time, as Max Planck famously quipped? Studies have already confirmed that when a ‘star scientist’ passes away, their collaborators produce work at a slower rate. Now, Pierre Azoulay and collaborators have comprehensively analysed the response of scientists who did not collaborate with the star researcher before their death.

In contrast to the collaborators’ dip in productivity, the non-collaborators showed a marked increase in publications in the subfield previously dominated by the star. The strongest increase is from new entrants to the subfield.

It seems that younger scientists are put off working in a subfield when it is dominated by a ‘big beast’, even though they clearly have substantial contributions to make. While this ‘gatekeeping’ effect of eminent scientists may have some positive effects, it is an interesting question to think about whether the obvious down sides can be mitigated.