Lauren Lanahan

Over the past 30 years, the 50 state governments have experimented with different programs that attempt to leverage academic science to create economic growth. Three broadly diffuse programs are: Eminent Scholars, which attracts scientific talent; Centers of Excellence, which builds research expertise that involves industry; and University Research Grants, which provides funding for research projects. This chapter traces their adoption and estimates the relationship with economic, political and R&D-related conditions for each program. The results indicate that states, in part, use these policy levers to enhance the performance of their R&D capacity workforce and to substitute declines in national trends of extramural funding of research and development. Viewing Eminent Scholars and the Uni...