Publications
Publications
- 2023
- HBS Working Paper Series
Laboratory Safety and Research Productivity
By: Alberto Galasso, Hong Luo and Brooklynn Zhu
Abstract
Are laboratory safety practices a tax on scientic productivity? We examine this question by
exploiting the substantial increase in safety regulations at the University of California following the
shocking accidental death of a research assistant in 2008. Di¤erence-in-di¤erences analyses show that
relative to dry labsthat use theoretical and computational methods, the publication rates of wet
labsthat conduct experiments using chemical and biological substances did not change signicantly
after the shock. At the same time, we nd that wet labs that used dangerous compounds more
frequently before the shock reduced their reliance on ammable materials and unfamiliar hazardous
compounds afterward, even though their overall research agenda does not appear to be a¤ected.
Our ndings suggest that laboratory safety may shape the production of science, but they do not
support the claim that safety practices impose a signicant tax on research productivity.
Keywords
Economics Of Science; Risk Perception; Safety Regulations; Safety; Working Conditions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Invention
Citation
Galasso, Alberto, Hong Luo, and Brooklynn Zhu. "Laboratory Safety and Research Productivity." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-072, May 2022. (Revised March 2023.)