Saving Soviet Science: The Impact of Grants When Government R&D Funding Disappears

Ina Ganguli

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2017, vol. 9, issue 2, 165-201

Abstract: I estimate the impact of a historic grant program, funded by George Soros, that provided grants to over 28,000 Soviet scientists shortly after the end of the USSR. Exploiting a discontinuity in the grant eligibility formula, I show that the grants more than doubled publications on the margin, significantly induced scientists to remain in the science sector, and had long-lasting impacts. While existing evidence shows negligible impacts of scientific grants, I show that funding for science can have high marginal returns when funding levels are low relative to the stock of human capital.

JEL-codes: H54 H81 I23 J44 O32 O38 P35 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20160180
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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