Funding and productivity: Does winning grants affect the scientific productivity of recipients? Evidence from the social sciences and economics

There is always controversy over the effects of research funding on scientific productivity. This study contributes to the literature investigating the observed effects of scientific funding. On a sample of 11537 principal investigators funded by the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, we used a multiple time period doubly robust difference-in-differences model and a selection model of research funding with exclusion restrictions to explore funding effects. In the models, we controlled for recipient fixed effects and time-varying effects, accounting for the heterogeneity of funding and isolating selection bias and reverse causality in funding. Meanwhile, we observed the dynamic effects of grants after award. We found that the non-randomness and heterogeneity of science grant allocations can lead to endogeneity issues that contribute to the pseudo effects of science grants. However, when we considered these issues, grants’ effects on scientific productivity disappeared. Furthermore, when observing the funding effect dynamically, there remained no significant impact of research funding on the quality and quantity of research in the post-grant 5-year window.