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Science, interrupted: Funding delays reduce research activity but having more grants helps

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  • Wei Yang Tham

Abstract

I study how scientists respond to interruptions in the flow of their research funding, focusing on research grants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which awards multi-year, renewable grants. However, there can be delays during the renewal process. Over a period beginning three months before and ending one year after these delays, I find that interrupted labs reduce overall spending by 50% but over 90% in the month with the largest decrease. This change in spending is mostly driven by a decrease in payments to employees that is partially mitigated when scientists have other grants to draw on.

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  • Wei Yang Tham, 2023. "Science, interrupted: Funding delays reduce research activity but having more grants helps," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(4), pages 1-40, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0280576
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280576
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jeffrey B. Liebman & Neale Mahoney, 2017. "Do Expiring Budgets Lead to Wasteful Year-End Spending? Evidence from Federal Procurement," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(11), pages 3510-3549, November.
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    5. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    6. Funk, Russell J. & Glennon, Britta & Lane, Julia & Murciano-Goroff, Raviv & Ross, Matthew B., 2019. "Money for Something: Braided Funding and the Structure and Output of Research Groups," IZA Discussion Papers 12762, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    1. Baicun Li & Aruhan Bai, 2025. "The influence of grant renewal on research content: evidence from NIH-funded PIs," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(5), pages 2617-2638, May.

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