ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to evaluate the nature of the output of economics articles. It focuses on a small number of points which, in turn, affect a large amount of professional effort. The Journal of Economic Literature classifies the economics articles found in about 220 journals for immediate use in the quarterly journal and for subsequent use in an annual index. In 1968, the American Economic Association appointed a classification committee who developed a new system to replace these other systems and to co-ordinate it with the American National Scientific Register. Half of all the general economic theory articles are in microeconomic analysis. Demographic economics and the economics of human capital are not large, but are rapidly increasing in size. Interest in trade unionism and collective bargaining seems to be unchanged over the period of our investigation. Country studies pertaining to less developed economies have a much heavier cross-pairing with work in the international economic area than do developed countries.
