IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genstf/201612290800001018.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Show me the Money: Federal R&D Support for Academic Chemistry, 1990–2009

Author

Listed:
  • Rosenbloom, Joshua L.
  • Ginther, Donna K.

Abstract

We examine the distribution of Federal support for chemistry Research and Development (R&D) performed at U.S. universities from 1990-2009. Federal R&D funding is an essential source of funds for investigator-driven research at the nation’s universities. Previous studies have documented that aggregated federal R&D funding has become more dispersed over time and attributed this to political pressure to spread resources more evenly. There have, however, been few studies of the allocation of funds within narrowly defined scientific disciplines. By narrowing the focus and exploiting the panel nature of our data we are better able to analyze the correlates of funding variation, yielding a number of new insights not apparent in studies using more aggregated data. First, we find that R&D expenditures at the discipline level are considerably more volatile than aggregate funding. Second, we show a strong positive association between several measures of institutional research capacity and future funding. In particular, we find a positive association between the employment of postdoctoral researchers and higher future research funding.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosenbloom, Joshua L. & Ginther, Donna K., 2016. "Show me the Money: Federal R&D Support for Academic Chemistry, 1990–2009," ISU General Staff Papers 201612290800001018, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:201612290800001018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/862384d7-c208-4598-89c2-e06d0a2bbdfd/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Robert A. Moffitt, 2016. "In Defense of the NSF Economics Program," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 213-234, Summer.
    3. Margaret E. Blume-Kohout & Krishna B. Kumar & Neeraj Sood, 2015. "University R&D Funding Strategies in a Changing Federal Funding Environment," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 355-368.
    4. repec:adr:anecst:y:1998:i:49-50:p:05 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. David Popp, 2015. "Using Scientific Publications to Evaluate Government R&D Spending: The Case of Energy," CESifo Working Paper Series 5442, CESifo.
    6. David Popp, 2015. "Using Scientific Publications to Evaluate Government R&D Spending: The Case of Energy," NBER Working Papers 21415, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. David, Paul A. & Hall, Bronwyn H. & Toole, Andrew A., 2000. "Is public R&D a complement or substitute for private R&D? A review of the econometric evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4-5), pages 497-529, April.
    8. Ronald G. Ehrenberg & Michael J. Rizzo & George H. Jakubson, 2003. "Who Bears the Growing Cost of Science at Universities?," NBER Working Papers 9627, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. A. Colin Cameron & Pravin K. Trivedi, 2010. "Microeconometrics Using Stata, Revised Edition," Stata Press books, StataCorp LLC, number musr, July.
    10. Jacob, Brian A. & Lefgren, Lars, 2011. "The impact of research grant funding on scientific productivity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1168-1177.
    11. James D. Adams & Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Research Productivity in a System of Universities," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 49-50, pages 127-162.
    12. Howard Wachtel, 2000. "How the National Science Foundation Funds Research in Economics," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 20-30, September.
    13. Robert M. Feinberg & Gregory N. Price, 2004. "The Funding of Economics Research: Does Social Capital Matter for Success at the National Science Foundation?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 245-252, February.
    14. A. Payne, 2001. "Measuring the Effect of Federal Research Funding on Private Donations at Research Universities: Is Federal Research Funding More than a Substitute for Private Donations?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(5), pages 731-751, November.
    15. David, Paul A. & Hall, Bronwyn H. & Toole, Andrew A., 1999. "Is Public R&D a Complement or Substitute for Private R&D? A Review of the Econometric Evidence," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt1sz6g8bv, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    16. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    17. Alexander Whalley & Justin Hicks, 2014. "Spending Wisely? How Resources Affect Knowledge Production In Universities," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 35-55, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carsten Schultz & Oliver Gretsch & Alexander Kock, 2021. "The influence of shared R&D-project innovativeness perceptions on university-industry collaboration performance," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 1144-1172, August.
    2. Lei Shi & Shan Gao & Airong Xu & Kexin Zheng & Yuanpeng Ji & Xianlei Dong & Lizhi Xing, 2023. "Influence of Enterprise’s Factor Inputs and Co-Opetition Relationships to Its Innovation Output," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Schultz, Carsten & Gretsch, Oliver & Kock, Alexander, 2024. "The influence of shared R&D-project innovativeness perceptions on university-industry collaboration performance," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 151014, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    4. Shaopeng Zhang & Xiaohong Wang, 2022. "Effects of Local Government Behavior on University–Enterprise Knowledge Flow: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.

    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. Annita Nugent & Ho Fai Chan & Uwe Dulleck, 2022. "Government funding of university-industry collaboration: exploring the impact of targeted funding on university patent activity," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(1), pages 29-73, January.
    2. Margaret E. Blume-Kohout & Krishna B. Kumar & Neeraj Sood, 2009. "Federal Life Sciences Funding and University R&D," NBER Working Papers 15146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Marco Cozzi, 2020. "Public Funding of Research and Grant Proposals in the Social Sciences: Empirical Evidence from Canada," Department Discussion Papers 1809, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.
    4. Joshua L Rosenbloom & Donna K Ginther & Ted Juhl & Joseph A Heppert, 2015. "The Effects of Research & Development Funding on Scientific Productivity: Academic Chemistry, 1990-2009," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, September.
    5. repec:plo:pone00:0157325 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Daniel Crown & Alessandra Faggian, 2019. "Naturalization and the productivity of foreign-born doctorates," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 533-556, December.
    7. Lauren Lanahan, 2016. "Multilevel public funding for small business innovation: a review of US state SBIR match programs," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 220-249, April.
    8. Daniele Rotolo & Michael Hopkins & Nicola Grassano, 2023. "Do funding sources complement or substitute? Examining the impact of cancer research publications," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(1), pages 50-66, January.
    9. Ejermo, Olof & Sofer, Yotam, 2024. "When colleges graduate: Micro-level effects on publications and scientific organization," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    10. Feng, Wei & Yuan, Hang & Shao, Xin, 2024. "Does China Have an “Innovation Paradox”? Evidence from Chinese Colleges and Universities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    11. Kyoungmi Lee & Sunglok Choi & Jae-Suk Yang, 2021. "Can expensive research equipment boost research and development performances?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7715-7742, September.
    12. Pop Silaghi, Monica Ioana & Alexa, Diana & Jude, Cristina & Litan, Cristian, 2014. "Do business and public sector research and development expenditures contribute to economic growth in Central and Eastern European Countries? A dynamic panel estimation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 108-119.
    13. Hall, Bronwyn, 2002. "The Financing of Research and Development," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt5rf0x9gz, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    14. Aboal, Diego & Tacsir, Ezequiel, 2016. "The impact of ex-ante subsidies to researchers on researcher's productivity: Evidence from a developing country," MERIT Working Papers 2016-019, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    15. Bronwyn Hall, 2004. "The financing of research and development," Chapters, in: Anthony Bartzokas & Sunil Mani (ed.), Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Mariasole Bannò & Valentina Morandi & Celeste Amorim Varum, 2013. "Public policy for innovation and internationalization: are they worth it?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(10), pages 927-930, July.
    17. Vincent Dortet-Bernadet & Michaël Sicsic, 2017. "The effect of R&D subsidies and tax incentives on employment: an evaluation for small firms in France," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 493, pages 5-22.
    18. Alexander Whalley & Justin Hicks, 2014. "Spending Wisely? How Resources Affect Knowledge Production In Universities," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 35-55, January.
    19. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Lerner, Josh, 2010. "The Financing of R&D and Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-639, Elsevier.
    20. Bloom, Nick & Griffith, Rachel & Van Reenen, John, 2002. "Do R&D tax credits work? Evidence from a panel of countries 1979-1997," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 1-31, July.
    21. Katrin Hussinger & João N. Carvalho, 2022. "The long-term effect of research grants on the scientific output of university professors," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 463-487, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:isu:genstf:201612290800001018. 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: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.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.