The Economic Spillovers from Science

科学的经济溢出效应

基本信息

批准号：
1064220
负责人：
Bruce Weinberg
金额：
$ 33.12万
依托单位：
Ohio State University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2011
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2011-04-15 至 2016-03-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1064220&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Economic Spillovers Science

项目摘要

Spending on science is increasingly motivated by the economic spillovers it generates, such as job creation, but there are mixed views of the overall benefits of scientific activities. On the one hand, science research is seen as an economic driver for the communities where it is produced. The successes of Silicon Valley in Northern California, the Route 128 corridor around Boston MA, the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, and the clusters of small tech startups in Austin TX are often attributed to the scientific research produced in these communities. On the other hand, science is often viewed as being primarily "ivory tower," with limited practical value. A quantitative understanding of the economic spillovers from science is critical for policy makers from the state and local levels to the national level seeking to set science-funding levels. Despite this policy interest, there is surprisingly little work quantifying the economic benefits of science. This project provides such estimates, showing what results we should expect from science and research spending in cities across the nation.In addition to leading directly to valuable inventions, scientific activity is believed to raise productivity in the communities where it is performed. This project focuses on these productivity spillovers. Our understanding of these economic spillovers from science is not very good yet, at least in part because there are three significant challenges to estimating the spillover benefits of science. Specifically:(1) Cities like Boston and San Francisco, where a large amount of research is performed, may be inherently different from cities with a small amount of research. Such differences are likely to lead researchers to misstate the spillover benefits from science, attributing to "science in the city" what is really attributable to the city itself. (2) The typical person living in a city with a lot of scientific activity may be more productive than the typical person in other cities. For instance, a large amount of science is produced by universities, which clearly generate skills for their students and may attract highly productive workers. Such differences would tend to lead researchers to overstate the spillover benefits of science.(3) If research raises productivity in a city, it would be natural to expect workers to move to that city and for the city to expand. An inflow of workers to cities with more scientific activity but not more jobs will depress wages, however, leading researchers to understate the spillovers from science.This project includes all of these effects in estimating the economic spillovers from science. We relate wages, real-estate prices, and other important economic outcomes in a city to measures of scientific activity there. We exploit a wide range of strategies to address all three of the challenges that have frustrated previous research, including developing a general framework in which they can be addressed. We will also produce rich data on scientific activity that will be available for future research. Broader ImpactsThese estimates will help policymakers value the economic benefits generated by science to fine-tune science investments. The project will specifically determine how scientific activity affects underrepresented groups based on gender, race, ethnicity, and age. The strategy developed under this project can also be applied to estimate the benefits of science stimulus spending and evaluate which expenditures produced the most benefits.

科学的支出越来越多于它产生的经济溢出，例如创造就业机会，但是关于科学活动的总体好处的看法不同。一方面，科学研究被视为生产社区的经济驱动力。北加州硅谷的成功，马萨诸塞州波士顿周围的128号公路走廊，北卡罗来纳州的研究三角公园以及TX奥斯汀的小型科技创业公司的簇通常归因于这些社区中所产生的科学研究。另一方面，科学通常被视为主要是“象牙塔”，其实际价值有限。对科学经济溢出的定量理解对于从州和地方到国家一级的政策制定者至关重要，他们寻求设定科学资金的水平。尽管有这种政策利益，但令人惊讶的是，量化科学的经济利益的工作很少。该项目提供了这样的估计，显示了我们应该从全国各地城市的科学和研究支出中期望的结果。除了直接引发有价值的发明外，科学活动被认为可以提高其执行社区的生产率。该项目着重于这些生产力溢出。我们对科学的经济溢出的理解还不是很好，至少部分是因为估计科学的溢出益处面临三个重大挑战。具体来说：（1）进行大量研究的波士顿和旧金山等城市可能与少量研究的城市固有不同。这种差异很可能导致研究人员误认为科学的溢出益处，这归因于“城市科学”的真正归因于城市本身。（2）居住在一个科学活动的城市中的典型人可能比其他城市的典型人更有生产力。例如，大学生产了大量的科学，这显然为他们的学生创造了技能，并可能吸引了高产的工人。这种差异将倾向于导致研究人员夸大科学的溢出益处。（3）如果研究提高了一个城市的生产力，那么希望工人能够搬到该城市和城市扩大。但是，大量的工人流向具有更多科学活动但没有更多就业机会的城市将降低工资，但是，研究人员低估了科学的溢出。该项目包括所有这些影响在估计科学的经济溢出方面。我们将城市中的工资，房地产价格和其他重要的经济成果与衡量那里的科学活动联系起来。我们利用各种策略来应对以前研究的所有三个挑战，包括开发可以解决它们的一般框架。我们还将提供有关科学活动的丰富数据，这些数据将用于未来的研究。更广泛的影响力估计将有助于政策制定者珍视科学为微调科学投资产生的经济利益。该项目将特别确定科学活动如何根据性别，种族，种族和年龄影响代表性不足的群体。该项目下制定的策略也可以应用于估计科学刺激支出的好处，并评估哪些支出产生了最大的好处。