Retreating from Science: The Long-Run Effects of the 1970s U.S. Military Disinvestment from University Research
NBER Working Papers · 2026 · Daniel P. Gross、Bhaven N. Sampat、Hansen Zhang
中文摘要
1945年至1970年间，美国国防部是美国最大的大学科研资助者之一，也是物理科学和工程领域最重要的资助者。此后，政治压力导致这项资助到20世纪70年代中期减少了近三分之二，且此后再未完全恢复。我们表明，这些削减波及了整个美国科研体系，导致大学科学家人数、博士培养数量和科研产出随之下降。1970年获得国防部资助的职业生涯早期科学家比同侪更有可能离开大学，其中许多人转向了产业界。尽管其中一些人申请专利的可能性有所上升，但总体而言，这似乎减少了相关技术领域中与科学相关的创新，并压缩了美国在原先由国防部主导领域的领先地位。这些影响还延伸至与军事目标关系更为密切的结果：进入国防工业基础的博士人数减少；在受影响最大的技术领域，与科学相关的国防专利活动最初有所增加，但随后转为长期下降。
Abstract
Between 1945 and 1970, the U.S. Department of Defense was one of the country's largest funders of university research, and the most important in the physical sciences and engineering. Political pressures subsequently led to this funding declining nearly two-thirds by the mid-1970s and never fully recovering. We show that these cuts were felt across the U.S. research system, with ensuing declines in university scientists, PhD production, and research output. Early career scientists who were DoD-funded in 1970 were more likely than peers to leave universities, with many moving to industry. Though some became more likely to patent, in the aggregate, this appears to have reduced science-linked innovation in related technologies and compressed U.S. leadership in formerly DoD-driven fields. These effects extend to outcomes more closely related to military objectives: fewer PhDs entered the defense industrial base, and an initial increase in science-linked defense patenting in the most exposed technology areas gave way to a long-run decline.