The Value of Scholarship "Extras"

I was recently invited to write a short piece on crowdfunding and investor protection for a special issue of one of the publications of the CESifo Group Munich, the CESifo DICE Report--"a quarterly, English-language journal featuring articles on institutional regulations and economic policy measures that offer country comparative analyses."  The group of authors for this publication (present company excluded) was truly impressive, and I have enjoyed reading their submissions.  My contribution is published here on the CESifo website and here on SSRN, for those who care to look it over.  

I did not hesitate to accept the CESifo Group's invitation to publish this paper, even though it is not primary scholarship and the deadline was tight for me given other professional obligations.  (The editors did allow me to negotiate a bit on the timing, however.)  The purpose of my post today is to explain why I decided to take this opportunity.  With the limited time that we all have to produce research papers, why would I invest in this kind of an "extra" publication--one that is not likely to get me full scholarly credit (whatever that may mean) in a critical assessment of my body of work?  Here are four reasons why I value this kind of project (if I can fit it in with my primary professional obligations).

1. A publication with an interdisciplinary international research group puts a scholar's name and pre-existing scholarship (some of which typically is cited in the piece) in front of a new audience.
2. A short, summary research paper of this kind offers the opportunity to synthesize or re-synthesize ideas from prior research and writing--a skill that (in my experience) improves with practice and is useful in other writing as well as in teaching.
3. The reductive, focused writing process may reveal fresh insights, and these may lead to new research, writing, or teaching.
4. Leveraging prior research by using it for multiple, distinct projects is efficient--and smart.

You may or may not agree with these reasons.  You may have other reasons for publishing this kind of work--or reasons for not doing so.  I invite you to add them in the comments.  And if you are untenured, not yet fully promoted, or otherwise subject to adverse employment action relating to scholarship activity, you'll likely want to check with your dean and trusted senior members of your faculty (including any associate dean for faculty development) before accepting a publication invitation of this kind.  Each institution honors these "extra" publications differently . . . .