nep-sog 2008-11-25 papers

on Sociology of Economics

Issue of 2008‒11‒25
two papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

Commercial Incentives in Academia By Albert Banal-Estañol; Inés Macho-Stadler
The Impact of Industry Collaboration on Academic Research Output: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis By Albert Banal-Estañol; Mireia Jofre-Bonet; Cornelia Meissner

By:	Albert Banal-Estañol (Department of Economics, City University, London); Inés Macho-Stadler (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament d’Economia i d’Història Econòmica)
Abstract:	This paper investigates the effects of monetary rewards from commercialisation on the pattern of research. We build a simple repeated model of a researcher capable to obtain innovative ideas. We analyse how academic and market incentives affect the allocation of the researcher’s time between research and development. We argue, however, that technology transfer objectives also affect the choice of research projects. Although commercialisation incentives reduce the time spent in research, they might also induce researchers to conduct research that is more basic in nature, contrary to what the “skewing problem” would presage. Monetary rewards induce a more intensive search for (ex-post) path-breaking innovations, which are more likely to be generated through (ex-ante) basic research programs. These results are shown to hold even if development delays publication.
Keywords:	Faculty behaviour, basic vs. applied research
Date:	2008–11
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cty:dpaper:0813&r=sog

The Impact of Industry Collaboration on Academic Research Output: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

By:	Albert Banal-Estañol (Department of Economics, City University, London); Mireia Jofre-Bonet (Department of Economics, City University, London); Cornelia Meissner (Department of Economics, City University, London)
Abstract:	The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of university knowledge and technology transfer activities on academic research output. Specifically, we study whether researchers with collaborative links with the private sector publish less than their peers without such links, once controlling for other sources of heterogeneity. We report findings from a longitudinal dataset on researchers from two engineering departments in the UK between 1985 until 2006. Our results indicate that researchers with industrial links publish significantly more than their peers. Academic productivity, though, is higher for low levels of industry involvement as compared to high levels.
Date:	2008–11
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cty:dpaper:0814&r=sog

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