How Does the Government (Want to) Fund Science? Politics, Lobbying and Academic Earmarks

This paper examines academic earmarks and their role in the funding of university research. It provides a summary and review of the evidence on the supply of earmarks by legislators. It then discusses the role of university lobbying for earmarks on the demand side. Finally, the paper examines the impact of earmarks on research quantity and quality.

Academic Earmarks and the Returns to Lobbying

Despite a large literature on lobbying and information transmission by interest groups, no prior study has measured returns to lobbying. In this paper, we statistically estimate the returns to lobbying by universities for educational earmarks (which now represent 10 percent of federal funding of university research). The returns to lobbying approximate zero for universities not represented by a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) or House Appropriations Committee (HAC). However, the average lobbying university with representation on the SAC receives an average return to one dollar of lobbying of $11-$17; lobbying universities with representation on the HAC obtain $20-$36 for each dollar spent. Moreover, we cannot reject the hypothesis that lobbying universities with SAC or HAC representation set the marginal benefit of lobbying equal to its marginal cost, although the large majority of universities with representation on the HAC and SAC do not lobby, and thus do not take advantage of their representation in Congress. On average, 45 percent of universities are predicted to choose the optimal level of lobbying. In addition to addressing questions about the federal funding of university research, we also discuss the impact of our results for the structure of government.

Strategic alliances and interfirm knowledge transfer

This paper examines interfirm knowledge transfers within strategic alliances. Using a new measure of changes in alliance partners' technological capabilities, based on the citation patterns of their patent portfolios, we analyze changes in the extent to which partner firms' technological resources ‘overlap’ as a result of alliance participation. This measure allows us to test hypotheses from the literature on interfirm knowledge transfer in alliances, with interesting results: we find support for some elements of this ‘received wisdom’—equity arrangements promote greater knowledge transfer, and ‘absorptive capacity’ helps explain the extent of technological capability transfer, at least in some alliances. But the results also suggest limits to the ‘capabilities acquisition’ view of strategic alliances. Consistent with the argument that alliance activity can promote increased specialization, we find that the capabilities of partner firms become more divergent in a substantial subset of alliances.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106908/1/4250171108_ftp.pd

Leishmania amazonensis Engages CD36 to Drive Parasitophorous Vacuole Maturation

Leishmania amastigotes manipulate the activity of macrophages to favor their own success. However, very little is known about the role of innate recognition and signaling triggered by amastigotes in this host-parasite interaction. In this work we developed a new infection model in adult Drosophila to take advantage of its superior genetic resources to identify novel host factors limiting Leishmania amazonensis infection. The model is based on the capacity of macrophage-like cells, plasmatocytes, to phagocytose and control the proliferation of parasites injected into adult flies. Using this model, we screened a collection of RNAi-expressing flies for anti-Leishmania defense factors. Notably, we found three CD36-like scavenger receptors that were important for defending against Leishmania infection. Mechanistic studies in mouse macrophages showed that CD36 accumulates specifically at sites where the parasite contacts the parasitophorous vacuole membrane. Furthermore, CD36-deficient macrophages were defective in the formation of the large parasitophorous vacuole typical of L. amazonensis infection, a phenotype caused by inefficient fusion with late endosomes and/or lysosomes. These data identify an unprecedented role for CD36 in the biogenesis of the parasitophorous vacuole and further highlight the utility of Drosophila as a model system for dissecting innate immune responses to infection

Terpene Metabolic Engineering \u3cem\u3evia\u3c/em\u3e Nuclear or Chloroplast Genomes Profoundly and Globally Impacts Off-Target Pathways Through Metabolite Signalling

The impact of metabolic engineering on nontarget pathways and outcomes of metabolic engineering from different genomes are poorly understood questions. Therefore, squalene biosynthesis genes FARNESYL DIPHOSPHATE SYNTHASE (FPS) and SQUALENE SYNTHASE (SQS) were engineered via the Nicotiana tabacum chloroplast (C), nuclear (N) or both (CN) genome to promote squalene biosynthesis. SQS levels were ~4300-fold higher in C and CN lines than in N, but all accumulated ~150-fold higher squalene due to substrate or storage limitations. Abnormal leaf and flower phenotypes, including lower pollen production and reduced fertility, were observed regardless of the compartment or level of transgene expression. Substantial changes in metabolomes of all lines were observed: levels of 65-120 unrelated metabolites, including the toxic alkaloid nicotine, changed by as much as 32-fold. Profound effects of transgenesis on nontarget gene expression included changes in the abundance of 19 076 transcripts by up to 2000-fold in CN; 7784 transcripts by up to 1400-fold in N; and 5224 transcripts by as much as 2200-fold in C. Transporter-related transcripts were induced, and cell cycle-associated transcripts were disproportionately repressed in all three lines. Transcriptome changes were validated by qRT-PCR. The mechanism underlying these large changes likely involves matabolite-mediated anterograde and/or retrograde signalling irrespective of the level of transgene expression or end product, due to imbalance of metabolic pools, offering new insight into both anticipated and unanticipated consequences of metabolic engineering

A High-Resolution Spectroscopic Search for the Remaining Donor for Tycho's Supernova

In this paper, we report on our analysis using Hubble Space Telescope astrometry and Keck-I HIRES spectroscopy of the central six stars of Tycho's supernova remnant (SN 1572). With these data, we measured the proper motions, radial velocities, rotational velocities, and chemical abundances of these objects. Regarding the chemical abundances, we do not confirm the unusu- ally high [Ni/Fe] ratio previously reported for Tycho-G. Rather, we find that for all metrics in all stars, none exhibit the characteristics expected from traditional SN Ia single-degenerate-scenario calculations. The only possible exception is Tycho-B, a rare, metal-poor A-type star; however, we are unable to find a suitable scenario for it. Thus, we suggest that SN 1572 cannot be explained by the standard single-degenerate model.Comment: 34 pages, 11 Figures, revised and resubmitted to Ap

Arms race or détente? How interfirm alliance announcements change the stock market valuation of rivals

M ost prior event studies find that the announcement of a new alliance is accompanied by a positive stock market response for the partners. This result has usually been interpreted as evidence for the prevailing view that alliances are effective vehicles for partners to acquire or access new skills and thus become stronger competitors. However, partners should also earn positive abnormal returns if alliances are used to shape competitive interactions, attenuating competitive intensity industry-wide. In this study, we disentangle these different mechanisms by examining how alliance announcements affect the stock market's evaluation of allying firms' rivals: if an alliance is expected to make partner firms more competitive, this should lead to negative abnormal returns for partners' rivals; if an alliance is expected to facilitate a reduction in competitive intensity, this should lead to positive abnormal returns for rivals. Results from an event study analysis of research and development alliances in the telecommunications and electronics industries during 1996-2004 provide evidence consistent with competition attenuation in some alliances. Our research thus challenges the increasingly narrow focus on learning and resource accumulation through alliances, and calls for broader consideration of the roles and effects of collaboration, both for individual firms and for industry structure

Churn, Baby, Churn: Strategic Dynamics Among Dominant and Fringe Firms in a Segmented Industry

This paper integrates and extends the literatures on industry evolution and dominant firms to develop a dynamic theory of dominant and fringe competitive interaction in a segmented industry. It argues that a dominant firm, seeing contraction of growth in its current segment(s), enters new segments in which it can exploit its technological strengths, but that are sufficiently distant to avoid cannibalization. The dominant firm acts as a low-cost Stackelberg leader, driving down prices and triggering a sales takeoff in the new segment. We identify a “churn” effect associated with dominant firm entry: fringe firms that precede the dominant firm into the segment tend to exit the segment, while new fringe firms enter, causing a net increase in the number of firms in the segment. As the segment matures and sales decline in the segment, the process repeats itself. We examine the predictions of the theory with a study of price, quantity, entry, and exit across 24 product classes in the desktop laser printer industry from 1984 to 1996. Using descriptive statistics, hazard rate models, and panel data methods, we find empirical support for the theoretical predictions