讲座题目： “Piece-Rate Pay”for Science

主 讲 人：  史冬波

时    间：  2023年11月14日（周二）10:30-12:00

地    点：  西安交通大学创新港涵英楼经济金融研究院8003报告厅

报告人简介：

Dongbo Shi is an associate professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research combines economic theory and causal evidence to explore the knowledge production function and design more effective policies. His research topics range from immigrant scientists and contract design in academia to innovation-driven entrepreneurship ecosystems and their geographic distribution. Shi joined Shanghai Jiao Tong after he received his Ph.D. from Tsinghua University in 2016. He holds a BS in Applied Mathematics & Applied Physics from the Talen Program of Tsinghua University.

Abstract:

This paper studies the effects of cash-per-publication policies on the quantity and quality of scientific research. We collect detailed data on cash-per-publication policies together with biblometric data and research-funding data from four top-ranked research hospitals in China for a sample period that runs from 2009 through 2018. We find that increasing the average cash reward per publication by 10,000 yuan on average increases a doctor’ s annual publications by 0.132, about 11.5% of the annual average. This effect is statistically significant, stable over doctors’ career stages, and more pronounced among PhD degree recipients as well as among those who cannot perform surgery to earn income. We also find that higher cash rewards for publications reduce the impact and innovativeness of doctors’ publications. Using a modified regression-discontinuity method, we explore abrupt jumps in these cash incentives at multiple journal impact-factor cutoffs. Although cash rewards per publication increase sharply with journal impact factors, we find that these policies fail to increase doctors’ publications in high-impact journals. Rather, their effects concentrate in publications in low-impact journals, especially in those that are later identified by the Chinese Academy of Science as under suspicion for scientific misconduct. This paper is the first to provide causal evidence indicating that increasing publication-contingent cash rewards leads scientists to increase publication quantity at the expense of research quality.

西安交通大学经济与金融学院

2023年11月1日