Home > The Matthew Effect
The Matthew Effect specifically refers to a line spoken by "the Master" in a parable in the Christian Bible:
- "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath" (XXV:29).
So saying, the Master rewards those who have taken his gifts and multiplied them, and repaid their debt to him.
This line is sometimes taken in isolation as claiming "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer": taken in context it asserts that ambition and risk-taking will be rewarded, while those who fail to utilize the talents loaned to them will be punished.
In education this quote was the inspiration for naming a phenomenon that has been observed many, many times in research on how new readers acquire the skills to read. Early success in acquiring reading skills usually equates into later successes in reading as the learner grows. Failing to learn to read before the third or fourth year of schooling is predictive of life-long problems in learning new skills. Hence the term the Matthew Effect: the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.
In science, the Matthew Effect describes the fact that eminent scientists will often get more credit than a comparatively unknown researcher even if their work is similar; it also means that credit will usually be given to researchers that are already famous: for example, a prize will almost always be awarded to the most senior researcher involved in a project, even if all the work was done by a graduate student.
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