Recent discourse among economists and academics, including Alex Tabarrok, suggests that the traditional big-business model of science may have been more effective at delivering productivity gains than the current university-led model. The Economist highlights that the expansion of higher education has coincided with a productivity slowdown. A new paper posits that subsidizing science in universities could be counterproductive, potentially drawing researchers away from the private sector, which might lead to reduced productivity growth. This theory is met with some skepticism, as the productivity slowdown is also pronounced in countries with a heavy reliance on private R&D. The debate is encapsulated by the question 'Is Science a Public Good?' as raised by Tabarrok in his commentary on the issue, suggesting a correlation between the growth of university and government science and the observed slowdown in productivity.
Universities are failing to boost economic growth. A new paper suggests that institutionsβ blistering growth and the rich worldβs stagnant productivity could be two sides of the same coin https://t.co/XI2AHKoLZj π
"Is Science a Public Good?" https://t.co/uRMBTm21Ex via @ATabarrok "In a commentary on Arora et al., the Economist notes that growth in universities and government science has coincided with a slowdown in productivity." https://t.co/S8oX5tLtcP
A new paper argues that subsidizing science reduces productivity growth by pulling researchers out of companies. Color me skeptical, as the productivity slowdown has been even more pronounced in countries that rely more on private R&D. But still, worth a read! https://t.co/P86R4RKIso
Universities are supposed to produce intellectual and scientific breakthroughs that can be employed by businesses, the government and regular folk. But the great expansion of higher education has coincided with a productivity slowdown https://t.co/MmI13ik2tO π
"When it came to delivering productivity gains, the old, big-business model of science worked better than the new, university-led one." No surprise. As cumbersome as corporates can be, their inefficiencies pale in comparison to those of universities. https://t.co/8Ha2WWBrpv