IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ulb/ulbeco/2013-194594.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Determinants of research production at top US Universities

Author

Listed:
  • Quentin Max David

Abstract

In this article, I analyze the determinants of research production by higher education institutions in the US. I use four measures to build an index of top-level academic research production. I show that it is important to account for the presence of outliers in both dimensions (X and Y axes) and that most top-ranked institutions can be considered outliers. I find that university income, the share of income devoted to research expenses, and faculty size significantly increase the ability of an institution to produce toplevel academic research. I also show that the relationship between average professor quality (proxied by salary) and the production of research is U-shaped, with a significant share of institutions located on the decreasing part of the curve.

Suggested Citation

  • Quentin Max David, 2014. "Determinants of research production at top US Universities," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/194594, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/194594
    Note: SCOPUS: re.j
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/194594/3/Universities.pdf
    File Function: Œuvre complète ou partie de l'œuvre
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/194594/4/2013Universities.pdf
    File Function: Œuvre complète ou partie de l'œuvre
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Catherine Dehon & Alice McCathie & Vincenzo Verardi, 2010. "Uncovering excellence in academic rankings: a closer look at the Shanghai ranking," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 83(2), pages 515-524, May.
    2. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Jeremy C. Stein, 2008. "Academic freedom, private‐sector focus, and the process of innovation," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(3), pages 617-635, September.
    3. Payne A. Abigail & Siow Aloysius, 2003. "Does Federal Research Funding Increase University Research Output?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-24, May.
    4. Nicola Lacetera, 2009. "Different Missions and Commitment Power in R&D Organizations: Theory and Evidence on Industry-University Alliances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 565-582, June.
    5. Philippe Aghion & Mathias Dewatripont & Caroline Hoxby & Andreu Mas-Colell & André Sapir, . "Higher aspirations- an agenda for reforming European universities," Blueprints, Bruegel, number 1, December.
    6. Gordon C. Winston, 1999. "Subsidies, Hierarchy and Peers: The Awkward Economics of Higher Education," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 13-36, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Quentin Max David, 2013. "Determinants of Research Production at Top Universities," Working Papers TIMES² 2014-007, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. David Quentin, 2014. "Determinants of Research Production at Top US Universities," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 81-109, January.
    3. Saul Lach & Mark Schankerman, 2008. "Incentives and invention in universities," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(2), pages 403-433, June.
    4. Henry Sauermann & Michael Roach, 2011. "Not All Scientists pay to be Scientists:," DRUID Working Papers 11-03, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    5. Ekinci, Emre & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2021. "Disagreement and informal delegation in organizations," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Leila Tahmooresnejad & Catherine Beaudry, 2019. "Collaboration or funding: lessons from a study of nanotechnology patenting in Canada and the United States," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 741-777, June.
    7. Sam Arts & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2020. "Taste for science, academic boundary spanning, and inventive performance of scientists and engineers in industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(4), pages 917-933.
    8. Jürgen Janger, 2015. "Business Science Links For a New Growth Path. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 107," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58413, April.
    9. Sauermann, Henry & Roach, Michael, 2014. "Not all scientists pay to be scientists: PhDs’ preferences for publishing in industrial employment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 32-47.
    10. Simeth, Markus & Raffo, Julio D., 2013. "What makes companies pursue an Open Science strategy?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1531-1543.
    11. Massucci, Francesco Alessandro & Docampo, Domingo, 2019. "Measuring the academic reputation through citation networks via PageRank," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 185-201.
    12. Margaret E. Blume-Kohout, 2023. "The case of the interrupting funder: dynamic effects of R&D funding and patenting in U.S. universities," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1221-1242, August.
    13. Michaël Bikard & Keyvan Vakili & Florenta Teodoridis, 2019. "When Collaboration Bridges Institutions: The Impact of University–Industry Collaboration on Academic Productivity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 426-445, March.
    14. Roach, Michael & Sauermann, Henry, 2010. "A taste for science? PhD scientists' academic orientation and self-selection into research careers in industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 422-434, April.
    15. Quentin David, 2009. "The Determinants of Research Production by U.S. Universities," DEM Discussion Paper Series 09-16, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    16. Barge-Gil, Andrés & Conti, Annamaria, 2013. "Firm R&D units and outsourcing partners: A matching story," MPRA Paper 44090, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Lee, Kyootai & Jung, Hyun Ju, 2021. "Does TTO capability matter in commercializing university technology? Evidence from longitudinal data in South Korea," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1).
    18. Denisa Mindruta, 2013. "Value creation in university-firm research collaborations: A matching approach," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(6), pages 644-665, June.
    19. Bolli, Thomas & Somogyi, Frank, 2011. "Do competitively acquired funds induce universities to increase productivity?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 136-147, February.
    20. Cristiano Antonelli & Chiara Franzoni & Aldo Geuna, 2011. "The Contributions of Economics to a Science of Science Policy," Chapters, in: Massimo G. Colombo & Luca Grilli & Lucia Piscitello & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra (ed.), Science and Innovation Policy for the New Knowledge Economy, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/194594. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecsulbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.