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Abstract

Using two identification strategies, we show that the connectedness of a PhD adviser (in the coauthor network) positively affects the placement of her student. First, we demonstrate that, on average, more central advisers place their students at better ranked institutes. To do this, we use the changes in the centrality of the adviser's coauthors in the year of student placement as an exogenous shock to the adviser's centrality. Our second strategy uses the death of faculty members as an exogenous shock to show that the probability of a student being placed at a particular university reduces when the 'social distance' between her adviser and that university increases due to the death.