IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ulp/sbbeta/2024-51.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The University and the Prince: Public funds shaping university trajectories

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Borsato
  • Valentina Erasmo
  • André Lorentz

Abstract

We develop an evolutionary model to analyse the role of policymaker’s preferences about the amount and the direction of funding in determining the trajectories of universities. We draw a parallel between the research and the teaching environments, and the Schumpeter Mark I and Schumpeter Mark II innovative patterns, respectively. We obtain that shifting the priority from pure to utilitarian knowledge, and vice-versa, makes production and employment dynamics follow an inverted-U shape. Likewise, the complementarity between teaching and research typical of Humboldt-like organisations allows the system to experience the best performance when preferences are neither too research- nor too teaching-oriented. Moreover, a generalised increase in funds is not effective if the distribution mechanisms are untouched and prioritise university reputation. Finally, a Baumol’s cost disease arises when the scientists wage rate is centralised at system level as in most European economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Borsato & Valentina Erasmo & André Lorentz, 2024. "The University and the Prince: Public funds shaping university trajectories," Working Papers of BETA 2024-51, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2024-51
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://beta.u-strasbg.fr/WP/2024/2024-51.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muscio, Alessandro & Quaglione, Davide & Vallanti, Giovanna, 2013. "Does government funding complement or substitute private research funding to universities?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 63-75.
    2. I. Etzo & R. Paci & C. Usala, 2024. "Brain gain vs. brain drain. The effects of universities' mobile students on territorial inequalities," Working Paper CRENoS 202411, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    3. Joel Mokyr, 2016. "A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10835.
    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. Beck, Mathias & Junge, Martin & Kaiser, Ulrich, 2017. "Public Funding and Corporate Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 11196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Julius Koschnick, 2025. "Teacher-directed scientific change:The case of the English Scientific Revolution," Working Papers 0274, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    3. Franck, Raphaël & Galor, Oded, 2021. "Flowers of evil? Industrialization and long run development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 108-128.
    4. Eleonora Guarnieri & Ana Tur-Prats, 2023. "Cultural Distance and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(3), pages 1817-1861.
    5. Watzinger, Martin & Schnitzer, Monika, 2019. "Standing on the Shoulders of Science," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 215, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2022. "Connecting the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions: The Role of Practical Mathematics," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(3), pages 841-873, September.
    7. Aki Tomizawa & Li Zhao & Geneviève Bassellier & David Ahlstrom, 2020. "Economic growth, innovation, institutions, and the Great Enrichment," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 7-31, March.
    8. Robert J. Shiller, 2017. "Narrative Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 967-1004, April.
    9. Nouhoum Touré, 2021. "Culture, institutions and the industrialization process," Post-Print hal-04120441, HAL.
    10. Chu, Angus C. & Peretto, Pietro F., 2023. "Innovation and inequality from stagnation to growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    11. Kovacs, Oliver, 2024. "Exaptationary Industry 4.0: Graphene as pathfinder?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    12. David Hugh-Jones & Mich Tvede, 2022. "Technology of Cultural Transmission I: The Printing Press," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2022-01, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    13. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac & Solar, Peter M., 2021. "Safety at Sea during the Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 239-275, March.
    14. Klaus Prettner & Martin Stojanovikj, 2025. "Extractive Institutions and the Takeoff to Long-Run Growth: A Schumpeterian Perspective," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp387, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    15. Roland Bénabou & Davide Ticchi & Andrea Vindigni, 2022. "Forbidden Fruits: The Political Economy of Science, Religion, and Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(4), pages 1785-1832.
    16. Bergh, Andreas & Bjørnskov, Christian & Kouba, Luděk, 2025. "The growth consequences of socialism," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 609-626.
    17. Calabuig, Vicente & Olcina, Gonzalo, 2023. "The elite, inequality and the emergence of progressive taxation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Johannes Binswanger & Anja Garbely & Manuel Oechslin, 2023. "Investor beliefs about transformative innovations under uncertainty," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(360), pages 1119-1144, October.
    19. Sascha O. Becker & Jared Rubin & Ludger Woessmann, 2024. "Religion and Growth," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1094-1142, September.
    20. Wolfgang Keller & Carol H. Shiue, 2020. "China’s Foreign Trade and Investment, 1800-1950," NBER Working Papers 27558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

    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:ulp:sbbeta:2024-51. 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: the person in charge The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask the person in charge to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bestrfr.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.