From a Florida Department of Education press release, Aprill 20, 2005: 'The Florida Board of Governors today released a study that found that for every additional dollar spent on research at Florida's universities the state enjoys almost $11 in increased economic activity...."As this study documents, research at Florida's public and private universities is an economic engine for our state," said State University System Chancellor Debra Austin. "Our universities are advancing knowledge, educating young Floridians and creating jobs and tax revenue as well."...Tim Lynch, the lead economist on the study, found that the economic benefits of higher education research far outweigh the state's investment. "This is a tremendous return for the taxpayers," Lynch said. "Each dollar spent on research results in an increase of $10.89 in Florida's gross regional product - that's a significant economic gain." Carolyn Roberts, chair of the Board of Governors, which oversees Florida's 11 state universities, said the study was the first of its kind. "Until now, there has been no analysis of the economic impact of the more than $1 billion in sponsored research conducted at our universities," Roberts said. "We knew the economic impact was big, but we didn't know how big. These findings are a happy surprise and give clear evidence that the citizens of Florida get a great rate of return when they invest in our institutions."'
(PS: If we can measure the economic return on investments in research, then we should be able to compare the return on toll-access research with the return on open-access research. Econometricians, start your engines. Governments that don't yet mandate OA to publicly-funded research: fund such a study. It will not only support OA, but pay for itself many times over.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/27/2005 12:02:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
