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The Long-Term Causal Effects of Winning an ERC Grant

Author

Listed:
  • Ghirelli, Corinna

    (Bank of Spain)

  • Havari, Enkelejda

    (IÉSEG School of Management)

  • Meroni, Elena Claudia

    (European Commission, Joint Research Centre)

  • Verzillo, Stefano

    (European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC))

Abstract

This paper investigates the long-term causal effects of receiving an ERC grant on researcher productivity, excellence and the ability to obtain additional research funding up to nine years after grant assignment. We use data on the universe of ERC applicants between 2007-2013 and information on their complete publication histories from the Scopus database. For identification, we first exploit the assignment rule based on rankings, comparing the outcomes of the winning and non-winning applicants in a regression discontinuity design (RDD). We fail to find any statistically significant effect on research productivity and quality, which suggests that receiving an ERC grant does not make a difference in terms of scientific impact for researchers with a ranking position close enough to the threshold. Since RDDs help identify a local effect, we also conduct a difference-in-differences (DID) analysis using the time series of bibliometric indicators available, which allows us to estimate the effect on a wider population of winning and non-winning applicants. Differently from the RDD results, DID estimates show that obtaining an ERC grant leads to positive long-term effects on scientific productivity, impact and the capacity to attract other EU funds in the fields of Chemistry, Universe and Earth Sciences, Institutions and Behaviours, Human Mind Studies and Medicine. Further analysis of heterogeneous effects leads us conclude that the positive results obtained with DID seem to be driven by the top-ranked applicants in these fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Ghirelli, Corinna & Havari, Enkelejda & Meroni, Elena Claudia & Verzillo, Stefano, 2023. "The Long-Term Causal Effects of Winning an ERC Grant," IZA Discussion Papers 16108, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16108
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    Cited by:

    1. Nagar, Jay Prakash & Breschi, Stefano & Fosfuri, Andrea, 2024. "ERC science and invention: Does ERC break free from the EU Paradox?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(8).
    2. Clemens Fuest & Daniel Gros & Philipp-Leo Mengel & Giorgio Presidente & Jean Jean Tirole, 2024. "EU Innovation Policy: How to Escape the Middle Technology Trap," EconPol Policy Reports Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    research grants; ERC; regression discontinuity design; difference in differences; EU funds; policy evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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