Assessing the Impact of Federal Stimulus R&D Funding on Employment and Scientific Output

联邦刺激资金的增加对科学和工程（S&amp；E）劳动力市场构成了巨大冲击，并提供了一个独特的“伪实验”。这为更好地了解联邦机构、大学、公司以及最终考虑从事科学职业的学生如何应对支持科学的意外变化提供了一个机会。该项目收集有关市场参与者对新支持的反应方式的同期信息。然后，它将资金、就业和科学产出的模式与早期的模式进行比较，以促进对市场动态的理解，否则很难辨别。该项目由三部分组成。第1部分在联邦研发预算的背景下衡量2009-2010年增加的联邦研发资金，比较联邦机构项目对资金的反应，并评估对资助接受者的直接影响。这是通过对义务和支出的分析以及与各机构和受助人的面谈和会议来完成的。第2部分估计了过去的经济冲击对研发支出和公司和大学的科学与工程（S&amp；E）就业的影响，以及过去的联邦研发资金对研发就业的影响。这为评估刺激研发资金对就业的影响提供了一个基准。第3部分估计了过去NIH和NSF研究资助的研究出版物和专利的时间和特征。这为刺激研发资金如何影响科学和技术提供了见解。这项研究促进了人们对联邦研发资金如何影响科学和工程就业的理解。这项研究还解决了两个关键问题。首先是确定融资的“成功率”或“回报率”。第二个是确定资助在成功科学中的作用。更广泛的影响这项研究加强了对联邦研发资金对就业和科学产出的影响的理解。对直接影响的评估和对潜在影响的估计为刺激措施的效果提供了及时的证据，并为各机构的决策提供了信息。鉴于科学技术在美国经济增长中的关键作用，该研究有助于理解研发资金的最佳水平。

The federal stimulus funding increase represents a large shock to the Science and Engineering (S&E) labor market and provides a unique ?pseudo-experiment? that offers an opportunity to better understand how federal agencies, universities, firms, and ultimately students considering science careers respond to an unexpected change in support of science. This project collects contemporaneous information on the way participants in the market respond to the new support. It then compares patterns of funding, employment, and scientific outputs to those in earlier periods, in order to advance understanding about the dynamics of the market that would otherwise be hard to discern. The project consists of three parts. Part 1 measures the 2009-2010 increased federal R&D funding in the context of the total federal R&D budget, compares the responses of federal agency programs to the funding, and assesses the immediate impacts on funded recipients. This is done through analyses of obligations and expenditures and interviews and meetings with agencies and recipients. Part 2 estimates the effect of past economic shocks on the R&D expenditures and Science and Engineering (S&E) employment of firms and universities, and the effect of past federal R&D funding on R&D employment. This provides a baseline for assessing the effect of stimulus R&D funding on employment. Part 3 estimates the timing and characteristics of research publications and patents from past NIH and NSF research grants. This provides insights into how the stimulus R&D funding impacts science and technology.Intellectual MeritThis research advances understanding about the way in which federal R&D funding affects science and engineering employment. The research also addresses two key issues. The first of these is identifying the "success rate" or "return" on funding?. The second is identifying the role of funding in successful science.Broader ImpactsThe research enhances understanding of the impact of federal R&D funding on employment and scientific output. The assessment of immediate impacts and the estimates on potential impact provide timely evidence on what the stimulus is doing and inform agencies in their decision-making. In light of the critical role of science and technology in U.S. economic growth, the study contributes to understanding about the optimal level of R&D funding.