About This Project

How does a sudden loss of funding affect scientific research? In this project, we use data on a 16-day long U.S. Federal Government shutdown in 2013, where scientific research was disrupted. In particular, we focus on federally funded research in the Antarctic. Early (but incomplete) results show this sudden shock has long-run effects.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

In 2013, the United States federal government experienced a shutdown due to political deadlock over the federal budget. The shutdown lasted only 16 days but had a substantial impact on employees. The timing of the shutdown coincided with the beginning of research period in the Antarctica, and for many researchers an entire research season was lost. The Antarctica provides a very clean setting to study this topic because a lot of research is being conducted there and by different types of scientists (Physics, Biology, Chemistry etc.).

Given the government funds a lot of scientific research, it's incredibly interesting to understand how temporary disruptions to scientific funding affect the productivity of scientists.

What is the significance of this project?

First, the project uses a sudden funding shock to see how it potentially affects researchers. This gives a very rich setting to see how funding losses affect scientists in the U.S.

Second, the project provides evidence on how government shutdowns (which have occurred multiple times) affects scientists. To this end, the project sheds light a disrupter of science.

Third, we can look at how temporary disruptions to science may have long-term effects on researchers careers.

What are the goals of the project?

We have already secured IRB approval, conducted surveys on scientists to see how they were impacted by the shutdown, and got preliminary results. The surveys and preliminary results show that researchers were effected.

The next goal of the project is to expand the dataset we have by collecting their publications and citations using OpenAlex, a commonly used open source database.

After the data is complete, we will conduct a statistical analysis to show how researchers may have been impacted.

The final goal is to write the project up and disseminate the results.