A structural equation model to assess the impact of agricultural research expenditure on multiple dimensions

Alessandro Magrini (), Fabio Bartolini (), Alessandra Coli () and Barbara Pacini ()
Additional contact information
Alessandro Magrini: University of Florence
Fabio Bartolini: University of Pisa
Alessandra Coli: University of Pisa
Barbara Pacini: University of Pisa

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 2019, vol. 53, issue 4, No 17, 2063-2080

Abstract: Abstract The economic crisis and the pressure towards efficient and effective use of public money claim for a higher accountability of research expenditure, as well as for a greater proximity of research to the needs of community. While agricultural productivity represents a worldwide goal for agricultural research as a response to growing food, feed and energy demands, other objectives besides productivity are becoming central. The challenge is to take into account broader impacts that go beyond academic and economic ones, and to improve knowledge on the causal impact-generating mechanisms. In this paper, we adopt a causal perspective and estimate the impact of agricultural research expenditure on multiple dimensions. We develop a structural equation model relating research expenditure, research activity, productivity and multiple impact indicators within a dynamic impact pathway, accounting for existing domain knowledge on causal relationships and their lag structures. The model is applied on EU 15 countries over the period 1980–2014, making use of official statistics from several European databases.

Keywords: Directed acyclic graph; Dynamic causal effects; Polynomial lag shape; Research impact assessment; Productivity; Sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-019-00855-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:53:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s11135-019-00855-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11135-019-00855-z

Access Statistics for this article

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology is currently edited by Vittorio Capecchi

More articles in Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().