The Impact of International Tensions on Scientific Output

• In Event: China and Coercion in International Politics

Abstract

We investigate the impact of international tensions on international collaboration and scientific output. To do this, we study the Department of Justice's "China Initiative" and related NIH investigations of foreign influence in funding, through which the U.S. government investigated hundreds of researchers over disclosure of funding from China. Using a differences-in-differences design, we evaluate the impact of these investigations of foreign collaborations on scientific output among scientists with a history of collaborating with scientists in China in comparison with those with no previous history of collaborating with scientists in China. Our preliminary results show the investigations produced a chilling effect - decreasing scientific output among those with previous cross-Pacific collaborations. We also evaluate the impact of the investigations on metrics of scientific quality.

Authors

• Margaret E Roberts, University of California, San Diego

• Ye Wang, New York University

• Eddie Yang, University of California, San Diego