Article | Review of Economics and Statistics

A Field Experiment on Search Costs and the Formation of Scientific Collaborations

by Karim R. Lakhani, Kevin Boudreau, Tom Brady, Ina Ganguli, Patrick Gaule, Eva C. Guinan and Anthony Hollenberg

Abstract

We present the results of a field experiment conducted at Harvard Medical School to understand the extent to which search costs affect matching among scientific collaborators. We generated exogenous variation in search costs for pairs of potential collaborators by randomly assigning individuals to 90-minute structured information-sharing sessions as part of a grant funding opportunity. We estimate that the treatment increases the probability of grant co-application of a given pair of researchers by 75%. The findings suggest that matching between scientists is subject to considerable friction, even in the case of geographically proximate scientists working in the same institutional context.

Keywords: Cost; Marketplace Matching; Groups and Teams; Science;

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Citation:

Lakhani, Karim R., Kevin Boudreau, Tom Brady, Ina Ganguli, Patrick Gaule, Eva C. Guinan, and Anthony Hollenberg. "A Field Experiment on Search Costs and the Formation of Scientific Collaborations." Review of Economics and Statistics 99, no. 4 (October 2017): 565–576.

About the Author

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Karim R. Lakhani
Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration
Technology and Operations Management

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