Laboratory Safety and Research Productivity.

Autor/inn/en	Galasso, Alberto; Luo, Hong; Zhu, Brooklynn
Institution	National Bureau of Economic Research
Titel	Laboratory Safety and Research Productivity.
Quelle	Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research (2023) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext (2) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	NBER working paper series. w31313
Beigaben	Illustrationen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie; Graue Literatur
DOI	10.3386/w31313
Schlagwörter	Forschung; Labor; Arbeitssicherheit; Universität; Hochschule; Arbeitspapier; Innovation; USA
Abstract	Are laboratory safety practices a tax on scientific productivity? We examine this question by exploiting the substantial increase in safety regulations at the University of California following the shocking death of a research assistant in 2008. Difference-in-differences analyses show that relative to "dry labs" that use theoretical and computational methods, the publication rates of "wet labs" that conduct experiments using chemical and biological substances did not change significantly after the shock. At the same time, we find that wet labs that used dangerous compounds more frequently before the shock reduced their reliance on flammable materials and unfamiliar hazardous compounds afterward, even though their overall research agenda does not appear to be affected. Our findings suggest that laboratory safety may shape the production of science, but they do not support the claim that safety practices impose a significant tax on research productivity.
Erfasst von	ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Kiel
Update	2024/1