Why do Australian universities fare so poorly in international rankings? Evidence for economic departments and some hypotheses

This paper reviews the literature that ranks universities and economics departments. In international rankings Australian universities fare well, but the most popular (ARWU and THES) measures are biased in ways that favour Australian universities. In international rankings of economics departments by their research performance, Australian universities fare poorly, relative to natural comparators. Several hypotheses can explain this phenomenon: inappropriate measures, low productivity, time spent on non-research activities, age and cohort effects and lack of resources.Richard Pomfre