Dear Colleagues,

Ina Ganguli, a graduate student associate of the Davis Center will be presenting a seminar this Friday on “Saving Soviet Science.”

Please consider attending! RSVP to sbbi@hbs.edu.

November 12, 2010 at 12 Noon, Baker 102

Ina Ganguli

Ph.D. candidate, Kennedy School, Harvard University

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

SBBI Seminar Series: Science Based Business Initiative

Abstract: How do grants impact scientific productivity? I estimate the impact of a large-scale grant program, funded by financier George Soros, that provided individual and team-based grants to thousands of scientists following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of public funding for Soviet science. I match scientists to their publications and locations using the Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science database and create a unique scientist-level panel dataset. Using quasi-experimental methods facilitated by the grant eligibility criteria, I show that the individual grants more than doubled researcher publications and induced scientists to remain in the science sector. The team grant also increased publications, suggesting an important role for complementarities in team production of research. The team grant increased the likelihood of emigration, while the individual grant tended to decrease emigration, but only in Moscow. These findings show that grants significantly increase scientific productivity in a market in which there are few alternate research funding opportunities. The results also show that policy levers can play an important role in the adjustment process of labor markets after sharp economic changes; in this case, relatively small amounts of funding can maintain participation in the science sector and can impact "brain drain".

Bio: Ina Ganguli is a doctoral candidate in Public Policy at Harvard University. Ina's primary research areas are labor economics and the economics of science and innovation. Her current research examines the impact of grants and location on researcher productivity.  Ina holds a B.A. in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences from Northwestern University, and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan. 

To RSVP or for questions on a seminar or to join the mailing list or arrange parking, please contact sbbi@hbs.edu. Visit http://www.hbs.edu/units/tom/seminars/2009/science/ for a schedule of future speakers. The 2010-2011 seminars are joint with Economics 2888hf: Economics of Science and Engineering Workshop, Harvard University.

If you know of someone who would like to be added to the distribution list or if you would like to be removed from the list, please let us know at any time.

---

Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

Harvard University

1730 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor

Cambridge, MA 02138

T 617.495.4037

F 617.495.8319

http://www.daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu