| By: |
Hsieh, Chih-Sheng (Chinese University of Hong Kong);
König, Michael D. (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam);
Liu, Xiaodong (University of Colorado, Boulder);
Zimmermann, Christian (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) |
| Abstract: |
We study the impact of research collaborations in coauthorship networks on
research output and how optimal funding can maximize it. Through the links in
the collaboration network, researchers create spillovers not only to their
direct coauthors but also to researchers indirectly linked to them. We
characterize the equilibrium when agents collaborate in multiple and possibly
overlapping projects. We bring our model to the data by analyzing the
coauthorship network of economists registered in the RePEc Author Service. We
rank the authors and research institutions according to their contribution to
the aggregate research output and thus provide a novel ranking measure that
explicitly takes into account the spillover effect generated in the
coauthorship network. Moreover, we analyze funding instruments for individual
researchers as well as research institutions and compare them with the
economics funding program of the National Science Foundation. Our results
indicate that, because current funding schemes do not take into account the
availability of coauthorship network data, they are ill-designed to take
advantage of the spillover effects generated in scientific knowledge
production networks. |
| Keywords: |
coauthor networks, scientific collaboration, spillovers, key player, research funding, economics of science |
| JEL: |
C72 D85 D43 L14 Z13 |
| Date: |
2018–10 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11916&r=sog |