An empirical assessment of the impact of public research contracts on scientific productivity

Abstract

We study the e§ect of a Program, aimed at Önancing high qual- ity researchers to integrate them into the Spanish scientiÖc system, on the relative ex post performance of the researchers awarded. We assess the e§ect of the contract status on the scientiÖc productivity of applicants, in the four-year period after application. Both the con- ditional regression and the matching results show that the contract status has no e§ect on the average number of published contributions, but it exhibits, for several areas, a positive e§ect on the scientiÖc qual- ity of contributions (as measured by its impact). This result points out the success of the Program in increasing the scientiÖc impact of the Spanish system.