Incentives for productivity, efficiency and usefulness in public sector research: the process involved and their possible failures

Les mécanismes d'incitation à la productivité, à l'efficience et à l'utilité dans la recherche publique. Une analyse des processus en jeu et de leurs défaillances possibles

Sylvie Bonny

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Abstract: Using agency/contract theory, among other tools, this paper analyses the mechanisms that coordinate public sector research with social demand. The characteristics of public sector research and the importance of informational asymmetry in this field are outlined. The various incentive mechanisms that can ensure a certain level of productivity and efficiency from public sector research workers are examined (pressure to publish, priority rule, competition, etc.), with their advantages and disadvantages (over-specialization of scientists and the very narrow focus of most research, for example). The questions "whom is public research useful to?" and "what is the direction of the work?" are then examined. The issues of the circulation of knowledge and property law in this field are also discussed, as well as utilization of science results. In the conclusion some pointers are mentioned to improve the mechanisms that coordinate research and society.

Keywords: public sector scientific research; incentive; social demand; production of knowledge; research economics; direction of research; utilization of science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01793701v1
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Published in Économie appliquée : archives de l'Institut de science économique appliquée, 1997, pp.63 - 104

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01793701

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