The Value of Insiders as Mentors: Evidence from the Effects of NSF Rotators on Early-Career Scientists

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hoenen, Sebastian; Kolympiris, Christos
• 署名单位: Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC; Erasmus University Rotterdam; University of Warwick
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00859
• 发表日期: 2020-12
• 页码: 852-866
• 关键词: science; PRODUCTIVITY; GENDER; professors; mobility; outcomes; matter

摘要

We show that academics with experience in government jobs generate spillovers for their early-career colleagues. Our template is the National Science Foundation rotation program in which the agency employs academics, called rotators, on loan from their university. Within two years after the rotator's return, fresh assistant professors in her department increase their research resources materially and are more likely to win small and medium-size grants compared to academics in three control groups. Consistent with evidence that the mechanism is mentoring from the rotator, the results suggest that access to individuals with insights gained outside academia propels scientific careers.