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The Endless Frontier: Reaping What Bush Sowed?

In: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy

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  • Paula Stephan

Abstract

I examine and document how the Endless Frontier changed the research landscape at universities and how universities responded to the initiative. I show that the agencies it established and funded initially recruited research proposals from faculty and applications from students for fellowships and scholarships. By the 1960s the tables had begun to turn and universities had begun to push for more resources from the federal government for research, support for faculty salary and research assistants and higher indirect costs. The process transformed the relationship between universities and federal funders; it also transformed the relationship between universities and faculty. The university research system that has grown and evolved faces a number of challenges that threaten the health of universities and the research enterprise and have implications for discovery and innovation. Five are discussed in the closing section. They are (1) a proclivity on the part of faculty and funding agencies to be risk averse; (2) the tendency to produce more PhDs than the market for research positions demands; (3) a heavy concentration of research in the biomedical sciences; (4) a continued expansion on the part of universities that may place universities at increased financial risk and (5) a flat or declining amount of federal funds for research.
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  • Paula Stephan, 2014. "The Endless Frontier: Reaping What Bush Sowed?," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 321-366, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:13034
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stephan, Paula E., 2010. "The Economics of Science," 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 217-273, Elsevier.
    2. Jeanne Coulibaly & Theodore Nouhoheflin & Casimir Aitchedji & Maiyaki Damisa & Stephen D'Alessandro & Dieudonne Baributsa & Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer, 2012. "PURDUE IMPROVED COWPEA STORAGE (PICS) SUPPLY CHAIN STUDY Abstract:The Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) project was launched in 2007 with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The pr," Working Papers 12-4, Purdue University, College of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    3. Grant C. Black & Paula E. Stephan, 2010. "The Economics of University Science and the Role of Foreign Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars," NBER Chapters, in: American Universities in a Global Market, pages 129-161, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. de Figueiredo, John & Silverman, Brian, 2004. "How Does the Government (Want to) Fund Science? Politics, Lobbying and Academic Earmarks," Working papers 4484-04, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    5. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 2012. "American Higher Education in Transition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 193-216, Winter.
    6. Richard B. Freeman & Tanwin Chang & Hanley Chiang, 2009. "Supporting "The Best and Brightest" in Science and Engineering: NSF Graduate Research Fellowships," NBER Chapters, in: Science and Engineering Careers in the United States: An Analysis of Markets and Employment, pages 19-57, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Zhang, Liang & Ehrenberg, Ronald G., 2010. "Faculty employment and R&D expenditures at Research universities," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 329-337, June.
    8. Fiona E. Murray, 2012. "Evaluating the Role of Science Philanthropy in American Research Universities," NBER Working Papers 18146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Fiona Murray, 2012. "Evaluating the Role of Science Philanthropy in American Research Universities," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 13, pages 23-59, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Jian, 2016. "Knowledge creation in collaboration networks: Effects of tie configuration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 68-80.
    2. Geuna, Aldo & Piolatto, Matteo, 2016. "Research assessment in the UK and Italy: Costly and difficult, but probably worth it (at least for a while)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 260-271.
    3. Silvia Dalla Fontana & Ramana Nanda, 2023. "Innovating to Net Zero: Can Venture Capital and Start-Ups Play a Meaningful Role?," Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 79-105.
    4. Ufuk Akcigit & John Grigsby & Tom Nicholas, 2017. "The Rise of American Ingenuity: Innovation and Inventors of the Golden Age," Working Papers 2017-6, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    5. Benedetto Lepori & Aldo Geuna & Antonietta Mira, 2018. "Scientific Output of US and European Universities Scales Super-Linearly with Resources," SPRU Working Paper Series 2018-22, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    6. Goldschlag, Nathan & Bianchini, Stefano & Lane, Julia & SanMartin Sola, Joseba & Weinberg, Bruce A., 2016. "Research Funding and Regional Economies," IZA Discussion Papers 10081, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Banal-Estañol, Albert & Macho-Stadler, Inés & Pérez-Castrillo, David, 2019. "Evaluation in research funding agencies: Are structurally diverse teams biased against?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1823-1840.
    8. Ajay Agrawal & John McHale & Alexander Oettl, 2014. "Collaboration, Stars, and the Changing Organization of Science: Evidence from Evolutionary Biology," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 75-102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Albert Banal-Estañol & Ines Macho-Stadler & David Pérez-Castrillo, 2016. "Key Success Drivers in Public Research Grants: Funding the Seeds of Radical Innovation in Academia?," CESifo Working Paper Series 5852, CESifo.
    10. Geuna, Aldo & Piolatto, Matteo, 2014. "The Development of Research Assessment in the UK and Italy: Costly and difficult, but probably worth (for a while)"," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201416, University of Turin.
    11. Hazhir Rahmandad & Keyvan Vakili, 2019. "Explaining Heterogeneity in the Organization of Scientific Work," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(6), pages 1125-1145, November.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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