Academic Inbreeding and International Mobility: A Study on the Brazilian Higher Education System

• In Event: 64.088 - Sheraton Roundtable 12 - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 64.088-6 - Faculty Mobility

Abstract

For over a century, researchers have tried to understand why academic inbreeding happens and how it affects scientific production. Perfect consensus remains elusive, but
studies have shown inbreeding is associated with lower academic performance. Countries have adopted policies to control for academic endogamy, but this is still common practice in different
higher education systems. In this study, we use a large longitudinal database and look at the Brazilian system to measure the level of inbreeding in the country and to estimate its effects on scientific and academic production. In particular, we ascertain whether types of inbred scholars - such as those who never leave their doctoral institution (“pure”) or those that travel abroad to return later (“international mobile”) – have differential effects.

Author

• Luis Filipe de Miranda Grochocki, Stanford University