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The Important Thing is not to Win, it is to Take Part: What If Scientists Benefit from Participating in Competitive Grant Races?

Author

Listed:
  • Charles Ayoubi

    (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Michele Pezzoni

    (Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France)

  • Fabiana Visentin

    (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

Abstract

The famous saying by Pierre de Coubertin asserts that the value athletes draw from Olympic competitions lies in their participation and not in the gold they collect. We find similar evidence for scientists taking part in grant races. Relying on unique data from a Swiss funding program, we find that a scientist participating in a grant application process boosts her number of publications, average impact factor, learning, and collaboration network regardless of the results of the competition. Receiving the funds increases the probability of co-authoring with co-applicants but has no additional impact on the individual productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Ayoubi & Michele Pezzoni & Fabiana Visentin, 2017. "The Important Thing is not to Win, it is to Take Part: What If Scientists Benefit from Participating in Competitive Grant Races?," GREDEG Working Papers 2017-27, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    • Handle: RePEc:gre:wpaper:2017-27
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    References listed on IDEAS

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