The Benefits of Being Economics Professor A (rather than z)

Alphabetical name ordering on multi-authored academic papers, which is the convention in economics and various other disciplines, is to the advantage of people whose last name initials are placed early in the alphabet. Professor A, who has been a first author more often than Professor Z, will have published more articles and experienced a faster productivity rate over the course of her career as a result of reputation and visibility. Authors know that name ordering matters and take ordering seriously. Several characteristics of an author-group composition determine the decision to deviate from the default alphabetical name order to a significant extent.