Two programs within UCSB’s Department of Economics have been ranked among the top 10 in the nation by Research Papers in Economics, a volunteer-driven initiative to create a public-access database that promotes scholarly communication in economics and related disciplines.

Only MIT and Harvard ranked higher than UCSB in environmental economics, and the department’s experimental economics program placed sixth behind the University of Chicago, UC San Diego, Chapman University, Harvard and New York University.

In addition, the cognitive and behavioral economics program ranked 12th. Other UC campuses among the top 12 include UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, at three and four, respectively.

The ranking is a joint product of RePEc and the University of Connecticut, where the database is maintained. The results are based on 31 criteria, including the number of citations and the publications in which they appeared, the total number of works authored by a particular scholar, journal page counts, the number of times document abstracts have been viewed on the RePEc Web site, and the frequency with which they have been downloaded.

“These rankings are a testament to the commitment UCSB has made to these fields over the past two decades, though, of course, it is the faculty in environmental, experimental and behavioral economics who deserve the most credit,” said Charles Kolstad, chair and professor of economics and professor at UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. “The stature of departments is built one field at a time. The Department of Economics hopes to strengthen all of its core fields over the next five years so that each is top five nationally.”

RePEc welcomes all providers of published and unpublished materials to place their bibliographic information in the public domain. Unpublished materials include working papers, discussion papers, research reports and conference papers. Click here to view all RePEc materials, including complete details about the rankings.