Economics of science

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_science

• Science economics: what science is really worth by Colin Macilwain

Collins has recently cited a report by Families USA, a Washington DC-based health-advocacy group, which found that every US$1 spent by the NIH typically generates$2.21 in additional economic output within 12 months.

Beneath the rhetoric, however, there is considerable unease that the economic benefits of science spending are being oversold. The Families USA study used a model developed by the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the US Department of Commerce to deduce the likely benefits of NIH spending in each state. Collins says he has been advised that the approach is “standard and considered reliable”. But some economists question the basic assumption behind such models — that a certain amount of research input will generate corresponding economic outputs — or that those outputs can be quantified.

STAR METRICS (Science and Technology in America’s Reinvestment — Measuring the Effects of Research on Innovation, Competitiveness and Science), implemented after the US stimulus package was introduced, the Obama administration is seeking to trace the effect of federal research grants and contracts on outcomes such as employment, publications and economic activity (see Nature 464, 488–489; 2010).

• Let’s make science metrics more scientific by Julia Lane