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The Resistible Decline of European Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2015

Luc Bauwens ,
Giordano Mion  and
Jacques-François Thisse
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Summary

Using a new data set that allows us to analyze precisely the research output in all fields of science, we show that the gap in scientific performance between Europe, especially continental Europe, and Anglo-Saxon countries, especially the USA, is large. We measure research quality by the number of highly cited researchers in nineteen selected scientific fields. After controlling for different variables, such as par capita GDP and outlays in R&D, the differences in productivity between Anglo-Saxon countries and other countries are explained, not surprisingly, by the importance of English proficiency, but also by the quality of institutions and of governance of the countries in the studied sample, the latter being in all likelihood highly correlated with the governance quality of research institutions.

Grâce à une nouvelle base de données qui permet une analyse précise de la production de recherche dans l'ensemble des disciplines scientifiques, nous montrons que l'écart de performance scientifique entre l'Europe, surtout continentale, et le monde anglo-saxon, surtout les USA, est considérable. Nous mesurons la qualité de la recherche par le nombre de chercheurs les plus cités dans chacune des dix-neuf disciplines retenues. Contrôlant pour différentes variables, telles que le PIB par habitant et les dépenses en R&D, les différences de productivité entre les pays anglo-saxons et les autres sont expliquées, sans surprise, par l'importance de la maîtrise de l'anglais, mais aussi par la qualité des institutions et de la gouvernance des pays étudiées, cette dernière étant vraisemblablement fortement corrélée à la qualité de la gouvernance des institutions de recherche.

Keywords

research performancecitationsknowledge economicsuniversity governancerecherche scientifiquecitationséconomie de la connaissancegouvernance universitaire123C25123C25
Type
Research Article
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 77 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 5 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 2011 

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Footnotes

*

CORE and Department of Economics, Université catholique de Louvain. Email: [email protected]

**

Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, CEPR, and CEP, UK. Email: [email protected]

***

CORE and Department of Economics, Université Catholique de Louvain, and CEPR. Email: [email protected]

The authors thank one referee, Kristian Behrens, Jacques Dreze, Gilles Duranton, Michel Lubrano, Gianmarco Ottaviano, and Matthew Turner for their comments They are also grateful to Rytis Bagdziunas for his assistance in collecting and preparing the data on highly cited researchers. The usual disclaimer applies

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