Research

Agenda

I am a researcher and a social scientist with specialties in applied econometrics and innovation. I utilize social networks within legal institutions to study the diffusion of innovation, explore diversity in the profession, and investigate the dynamics of legal case networks. This allows me to unravel the complexities of industries.

Innovation

The mainstream of my research deals with the process of how innovation is developed and spread to others through institutions. In particular, I examine how legal innovations arise and diffuse through the lens of social network and survival analysis. I have also studied innovation more generally at the university level and how universities transform innovation into measureable outputs.

“The Diffusion of Deal Innovations in Complex Contractual Networks” (with Matt Jennejohn and Cree Jones)
Paper Visualization
- Created an online visualization app to track the diffusion of the legal innovation in the network as firms become adopters of the innovation and measure the distance from the innovation as a means for diffusion.
  
  Top-Up Visualization app shows adoption diffusion
  
  Interactive version here: https://kristinabishop.shinyapps.io/rshiny/
“Intensive Innovation: Unpacking Textual Evolution in Complex Contractual Networks” with Matthew Jennejohn and Cree Jones
- Conducted a textual analysis of transactions including a top-up option, employing machine learning techniques and quantitatively examined through a cosine similarity analysis the evolution of contractual language
- Utilized a directed network to show the relationships of firms
- Constructed a model to show concessions, evolution, and negotiations between firms as they interact and incorporate new language into their contracts
“Innovation Impact of U.S. Universities” ( with J.H. Cullum Clark, Kristina Bishop, Vinit Nijhawan, Christian T. Blackwell, David Overton, Steve Ingram) paper
- Created a ranking of the innovation and efficiency of U.S. universities using a principal components analysis to combine innovative factors
- Estimates economic productivity of universities using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)
- Determined critical factors for policymakers, university administration, and stake holders to increase innovation and efficiency

Dynamics of Legal Case Networks

Related to my work on innovation networks, I research the dynamics that occur within networks. I statistically measure changes that occur through a network and how these changes manifest over time or in response to outside intervention. I have focused on litigation networks of attorneys and judges, law firms, or other actors participating in legal cases.

“Multistate Litigation Networks” with Elysa Dishman
- Created networks of the states participating in multistate litigation to examine the central players and how these dynamics change through presidential administrations
“Client Pressure and Persistent Diversity Gaps in the Courtroom” with Afra Afsharipour and Matthew Jennejohn.
- Created networks of attorneys and judges on securities cases in the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Southern District of New York to examine the effect of a general counsel letter on diversity changes within the legal profession.
See also below, “Gender Gaps and IPOs” which measures the dynamics of the gender gap in professional networks of transactional attorneys

Inclusive Networks

Some of the above empirical research has been applied to other areas, including mapping professional networks and revealing gender and racial disparities in the legal ecosystem, central to our markets.

“Gender Gaps and IPOs” with Afra Afsharipour and Matthew Jennejohn. Visualization
- Created a social network of transactional attorneys to identify the gender gap present over the last twenty years and associated factors
- Created an online visualization app to show differences in the networks of top and middle attorneys by gender and centrality measures
  
  Online visualization app of networks of top and middle attorneys to show differences in centrality and gender gap
  
  Interact with the app here: https://kristinabishop.shinyapps.io/myApp/
See also above, “Client Pressure and Persistent Diversity Gaps in the Courtroom”

Other Economic Research on Families and Labor Economics

My training as an economist and statistician has led to other research papers in family and labor economics. I studied how cultural factors impact economic outcomes, such as mobility and income levels, or even how resilient households are after an income shock.

“Resilience and Recovery” Job Market Paper
- Creates a model for household recovery times after an income shock after estimating a generalized method of moments model of income dynamics while incorporating measurement error.
Simulated Household Recovery Times with Measurement Error Corrections
- I also examined the demographic determinants for faster or slower recovery speed.
- Correcting for measurement error provides an unbiased measurement of recovery times for any specified income shock; some households do not recover within the data time frame.
“Like Parent Like Child: Intergenerational Transmission of Geographic and Economic Mobility”(with Ömer Özak)
- Measures the extent to which geographic mobility is correlated across generations and subsequent effects on economic outcomes
“Consumption Smoothing and Family Formation” (with Rocio Madera)

Publications

My Curriculum Vitae shows a full list of my publications and presentations and can be found here: CV (Updated December 2023)

“The Diffusion of Deal Innovations in Complex Contractual Networks” (with Matt Jennejohn and Cree Jones)
Interactive Visualization; SSRN paper
“Innovation Impact of U.S. Universities” ( with J.H. Cullum Clark, Kristina Bishop, Vinit Nijhawan, Christian T. Blackwell, David Overton, Steve Ingram) paper
“Estimation and Application of Lerner Type Indexes for the Public Sector”(with Shawna Grosskopf, Rolf Fare, Kathy Hayes, William Weber, and Heike Wetzel) in Market Power, Economic Efficiency, and the Lerner Index, (2024) World Scientific Publishing Company.

Current Projects and Working Papers

“Roots of Innovation: Decoding the Textual Evolution in Legal Innovation Adoption in Contractual Networks” with Matthew Jennejohn and Cree Jones.
“Client Pressure and Persistent Diversity Gaps in the Courtroom” with Afra Afsharipour and Matthew Jennejohn.
“Multistate Litigation Networks” with Elysa Dishman.
“Gender Gaps and IPOs” with Afra Afsharipour and Matthew Jennejohn. Visualization