A field experiment on search costs and the formation of scientific collaborations

0479548 - NHÚ 2018 RIV US eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Boudreau, K. J. - Brady, T. - Ganguli, I. - Gaulé, Patrick - Guinan, E. - Hollenberg, A. - Lakhani, K. R.
A field experiment on search costs and the formation of scientific collaborations.
Review of Economics and Statistics. Roč. 99, č. 4 (2017), s. 565-576. ISSN 0034-6535. E-ISSN 1530-9142
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67985998
Klíčová slova: search costs * scientific collaborations
Obor OECD: Applied Economics, Econometrics
Impakt faktor: 3.510, rok: 2017

We present the results of a field experiment conducted at Harvard Medical School to understand the extent to which search costs affect matching among scientific collaborators. We generated exogenous variation in search costs for pairs of potential collaborators by randomly assigning individuals to 90-minute structured information-sharing sessions as part of a grant funding opportunity. We estimate that the treatment increases the probability of grant co-application of a given pair of researchers by 75%. The findings suggest that matching between scientists is subject to considerable friction, even in the case of geographically proximate scientists working in the same institutional context.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0275532