Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- The setting of the problem -- Patent statistics -- The role of intellectual stimuli -- The use of important inventions as a cause of further inventions -- Productivity advance: A Case of supply and demand? -- The amount of invention is governed by the extent...

The information content of academic citations is subject to debate. This paper views premature death as a tragic quot;natural experiment,quot; outlining a methodology identifying the quot;citation death taxquot; -- the impact of death of productive economists on the patterns of their citations....