The Experts below are selected from a list of 141 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
David Tyfield - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Economics of Science – A Case Study in the Contribution of Ontology
2012Co-Authors: David TyfieldAbstract:The contemporary crisis of capitalism has also unleashed a crisis of the Economics mainstream that may yet prove to be a singular opportunity for heterodox political economy. But how can ontological analysis contribute to the construction of alternative perspectives that are compelling, both epistemically and politically? Politically, the multiple, overlapping crises – not just of capitalism, but also inter alia of ecology, knowledge production, liberal democracy etc… – have shifted the ground on which political economy must be able to comment informatively; from the traditional focus on industry and trade to include also a diverse set of issues such as the commercialisation of Science, innovation (including of novel ontological capabilities) in a ‘knowledge-based’ economy, socio-technical system transitions and the interaction of economy and ‘nature’ (often mediated by Science and technology). These issues come together within an ‘Economics of Science’. Yet, epistemically, an Economics of Science that is critical and explanatory, rather than axiomatic and ahistorical, demands profound rethinking of the ontological presuppositions of ‘Economics’. Moreover, political economy also has much to learn from productive synthesis with disciplines that have engaged with these issues for many years, including Science & technology studies; issues, moreover, that are intimately and inextricably connected to ontological and epistemological reflection on the nature of ‘techno-Science’ and its world-making powers. This yields the contours of a new research programme of a ‘cultural political economy of research & innovation’ (CPERI). Yet such mutual engagement of political economy and STS also demands rethinking of the ontological (and epistemic) presuppositions of both disciplines, given that the former is presumptively realist in both epistemology and (social) ontology while the latter is foundationally anti-realist, constructivist and sceptical of social structures. Whereas much work in the ‘ontological turn’ of economic methodology is conducted at the level of philosophical argument alone, therefore, this paper takes a different approach to demonstrate, rather than merely argue for, the contribution of ontological attention to political economy. We thus start with the substantive problem of developing an Economics of Science capable of illuminating the commercialisation of Science and its interaction with and implications for broader social crises, arguing thence that ontological attention is a crucial step in this theoretical project. Moreover, incorporating substantive concerns from the outset also affords illustration of genuinely dialectical development (in which ontological arguments are themselves honed through interaction with substantive research, rather than vice versa alone) and of the limitations of ontological argument. Several major criticisms of ontological work’s contribution to Economics are thus tackled, regarding its alleged irrelevance to or unbridgeable remoteness from actual research, its arrogant ex cathedra pronouncements and its infallibility.
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The Economics of Science: A Critical Realist Overview: Volume 1: Illustrations and Philosophical Preliminaries
2011Co-Authors: David TyfieldAbstract:Dramatic and controversial changes in the funding of Science over the past two decades, towards its increasing commercialization, have stimulated a huge literature trying to set out an "Economics of Science". Whether broadly in favour or against these changes, the vast majority of these frameworks employ ahistorical analyses that cannot conceptualise, let alone address, the questions of "why have these changes occurred?" and "why now?" Nor, therefore, can they offer much insight into the crucial question of future trends. Given the growing importance of Science and innovation in an age of both a globalizing knowledge-based economy (itself in crisis) and enormous challenges that demand scientific and technological responses, these are significant gaps in our understanding of important contemporary social processes. This book argues that the fundamental underlying problem in all cases is the ontological shallowness of these theories, which can only be remedied by attention to ontological presuppositions. Conversely, a critical realist approach affords the integration of a realist political economy into the analysis of the Economics of Science that does afford explicit attention to these crucial questions; a ‘cultural political economy of research and innovation’ (CPERI). Accordingly, the book sets out an introduction to the existing literature on the Economics of Science together with novel discussion of the field from a critical realist perspective. In arguing thus across levels of abstraction, however, the book also explores how concerted engagement with substantive social enquiry and theoretical debate develops and strengthens critical realism as a philosophical project, rather than simply ‘applying’ it. Divided into two volumes, in this first volume the book explores the ‘top’ and ‘tail’ of the argument, regarding substantive and philosophical aspects. Starting with substantive illustrations, we explore the social challenges associated with the contemporary commercialization of Science and the movement towards a knowledge-based bio-economy. Having shown the explanatory benefits of assuming a realist political economy perspective, the book then turns to the task of reconstructing and justifying that theoretical perspective. True to the overall argument regarding attention to ontological presuppositions, this starts with critical realism’s critique of mainstream Economics but also develops critical realism itself towards what may be called a ‘transcendental constructivism’.
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The Economics of Science: A Critical Realist Overview: Volume 2: Towards a Synthesis of Political Economy and Science and Technology Studies
2011Co-Authors: David TyfieldAbstract:Dramatic and controversial changes in the funding of Science over the past two decades, towards its increasing commercialization, have stimulated a huge literature trying to set out an "Economics of Science". Whether broadly in favour or against these changes, the vast majority of these frameworks employ ahistorical analyses that cannot conceptualise, let alone address, the questions of "why have these changes occurred?" and "why now?" Nor, therefore, can they offer much insight into the crucial question of future trends. Given the growing importance of Science and innovation in an age of both a globalizing knowledge-based economy (itself in crisis) and enormous challenges that demand scientific and technological responses, these are significant gaps in our understanding of important contemporary social processes. This book argues that the fundamental underlying problem in all cases is the ontological shallowness of these theories, which can only be remedied by attention to ontological presuppositions. Conversely, a critical realist approach affords the integration of a realist political economy into the analysis of the Economics of Science that does afford explicit attention to these crucial questions; a ‘cultural political economy of research and innovation’ (CPERI). Accordingly, the book sets out an introduction to the existing literature on the Economics of Science together with novel discussion of the field from a critical realist perspective. In arguing thus across levels of abstraction, however, the book also explores how concerted engagement with substantive social enquiry and theoretical debate develops and strengthens critical realism as a philosophical project, rather than simply ‘applying’ it. While the first of these two volumes argues how mainstream Economics is inadequate to the task of an explanatory and critical ‘Economics of Science’, the challenge in this second volume is to examine the strengths and weaknesses of disciplines offering more promising starting points. Two social scientific disciplines are particularly promising candidates, starting from ‘economy’ or ‘Science’, namely heterodox political economy and Science & technology studies respectively. Synthesising these into an ‘Economics of Science’, however, still encounters considerable hurdles, in that there remain some fundamental and mutual philosophical incompatibilities. Formulating an ‘Economics of Science’ thus demands that both ‘Economics’ and ‘Science’ be redefined. The book explores how a critical realist approach affords some common ground upon which this productive synthesis may be pursued, in the form of a cultural political economy of research and innovation (CPERI).
Paula E Stephan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the Economics of Science and technology
2012Co-Authors: David B. Audretsch, Kathryn L Combs, Gregory Tassey, Barry Bozeman, Paula E Stephan, Albert N. Link, Donald S. Siegel, Maryann P. Feldman, Charles WessnerAbstract:This paper provides a non-technical, accessible introduction to various topics in the burgeoning literature on the Economics of Science and technology. This is an interdisciplinary literature, drawing on the work of scholars in the fields of Economics, public policy, sociology and management. The aim of this paper is to foster a deeper appreciation of the economic importance of Science and technology issues. We also hope to stimulate additional research on these topics. Copyright 2002 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
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The Economics of Science - Funding for Research
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2010Co-Authors: Paula E StephanAbstract:Scientific research has properties of a public good; there are few monetary incentives for individuals to undertake basic research and the conventional wisdom is that the market, if left to its own devices, would under- invest in research in terms of social benefits relative to social costs. Thus research, especially of a basic nature, has traditionally been supported by either the government or philanthropic institutions. More recently, industry has also begun to support research conducted in nonprofit institutions. This paper explores the various sources of support for research in the university sector. Although the focus is on the United States, the paper discusses trends in other countries as well. The paper also examines mechanisms for distributing funds, including peer review and performance based distribution. The paper closes with a case study of the National Institutes of Health doubling during the period 1998-2002.
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the Economics of Science
Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, 2010Co-Authors: Paula E StephanAbstract:This chapter examines the contributions that economists have made to the study of Science and the types of contributions the profession is positioned to make in the future. Special emphasis is placed on the public nature of knowledge and characteristics of the reward structure that encourage the production and sharing of knowledge. The role that cognitive and noncognitive resources play in discovery is discussed as well as the costs of resources used in research. Different models for the funding of research are presented. The chapter also discusses scientific labor markets and the extreme difficulty encountered in forecasting the demand for and supply of scientists. The chapter closes with a discussion of the relationship of scientific research to economic growth and suggestions for future research.
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The Economics of Science and Technology
The Journal of Technology Transfer, 2002Co-Authors: David B. Audretsch, Kathryn L Combs, Gregory Tassey, Barry Bozeman, Paula E Stephan, Albert N. Link, Donald S. Siegel, Maryann P. Feldman, Charles WessnerAbstract:This paper provides a non-technical, accessible introduction to various topics in the burgeoning literature on the Economics of Science and technology. This is an interdisciplinary literature, drawing on the work of scholars in the fields of Economics, public policy, sociology and management. The aim of this paper is to foster a deeper appreciation of the economic importance of Science and technology issues. We also hope to stimulate additional research on these topics.
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the Economics of Science
Journal of Economic Literature, 1996Co-Authors: Paula E StephanAbstract:This essay examines in an interdisciplinary context the contributions that economists have made to the study of Science and the types of contributions the profession is positioned to make in the future. Special emphasis is placed on the public nature of knowledge and characteristics of the reward structure that encourage the production and sharing of knowledge. Scientific labor markets are discussed as are life-cycle models. The role that resources play in discovery leads to the conclusion that the human capital model is not up to the task of explaining the career patterns that emerge in Science. The essay also discusses the relationship of scientific research to economic growth.
Henry Sauermann - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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crowdfunding scientific research descriptive insights and correlates of funding success
PLOS ONE, 2019Co-Authors: Henry Sauermann, Chiara Franzoni, Kourosh ShafiAbstract:Crowdfunding has gained traction as a mechanism to raise resources for entrepreneurial and artistic projects, yet there is little systematic evidence on the potential of crowdfunding for scientific research. We first briefly review prior research on crowdfunding and give an overview of dedicated platforms for crowdfunding research. We then analyze data from over 700 campaigns on the largest dedicated platform, Experiment.com. Our descriptive analysis provides insights regarding the creators seeking funding, the projects they are seeking funding for, and the campaigns themselves. We then examine how these characteristics relate to fundraising success. The findings highlight important differences between crowdfunding and traditional funding mechanisms for research, including high use by students and other junior investigators but also relatively small project size. Students and junior investigators are more likely to succeed than senior scientists, and women have higher success rates than men. Conventional signals of quality–including scientists’ prior publications–have little relationship with funding success, suggesting that the crowd may apply different decision criteria than traditional funding agencies. Our results highlight significant opportunities for crowdfunding in the context of Science while also pointing towards unique challenges. We relate our findings to research on the Economics of Science and on crowdfunding, and we discuss connections with other emerging mechanisms to involve the public in scientific research.
Sibel Erduran - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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interactions of Economics of Science and Science education investigating the implications for Science teaching and learning
Science Education, 2013Co-Authors: Sibel Erduran, Ebru Z MugalogluAbstract:In recent years, there has been upsurge of interest in the applications of interdisciplinary perspectives on Science in Science education. Within this framework, the implications of the so-called “Economics of Science” is virtually an uncharted territory. In this paper, we trace a set of arguments that provide a dialectic engagement with two conflicting agendas: (a) the broadening of Science education to include the contextual positioning of Science including economical dimensions of Science, and (b) the guarding of the proliferation and reinforcement of those aspects of Economics of Science such as commodification of scientific knowledge that embraces inequity and restricted access to the products of the scientific enterprise. Our aim is broadly to engage, as Science education researchers, in the debates in Economics of Science so as to investigate the reciprocal interactions that might exist with Science education. In so doing, we draw out some recommendations whereby the goals of Science education might provide as much input into the intellectual debates within philosophy of Science on issues related to the commercialisation and commodification of scientific knowledge. We explore some implications of commodification of Science in the context of modelling and argumentation in Science education.
Kourosh Shafi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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crowdfunding scientific research descriptive insights and correlates of funding success
PLOS ONE, 2019Co-Authors: Henry Sauermann, Chiara Franzoni, Kourosh ShafiAbstract:Crowdfunding has gained traction as a mechanism to raise resources for entrepreneurial and artistic projects, yet there is little systematic evidence on the potential of crowdfunding for scientific research. We first briefly review prior research on crowdfunding and give an overview of dedicated platforms for crowdfunding research. We then analyze data from over 700 campaigns on the largest dedicated platform, Experiment.com. Our descriptive analysis provides insights regarding the creators seeking funding, the projects they are seeking funding for, and the campaigns themselves. We then examine how these characteristics relate to fundraising success. The findings highlight important differences between crowdfunding and traditional funding mechanisms for research, including high use by students and other junior investigators but also relatively small project size. Students and junior investigators are more likely to succeed than senior scientists, and women have higher success rates than men. Conventional signals of quality–including scientists’ prior publications–have little relationship with funding success, suggesting that the crowd may apply different decision criteria than traditional funding agencies. Our results highlight significant opportunities for crowdfunding in the context of Science while also pointing towards unique challenges. We relate our findings to research on the Economics of Science and on crowdfunding, and we discuss connections with other emerging mechanisms to involve the public in scientific research.
