The Equalizing Effect of the Internet on Access to Research Expertise in Political Science and Economics.

In this paper, we examine how expanded Internet usage has affected co-authorship and research between academic political scientists and economists within the same department. We find that the relative number of papers co-authored between departments has increased as the number of papers by authors solely within the same department has declined. Further we find evidence consistent with the claim that the Internet has had an equalizing effect by giving researchers outside the top-ten departments access to high quality research expertise in the form of collaborators at other universities.