Allocation of funds and research output : the case of UK universities

The paper develops an empirical approach for analysing the relationships between funding and research output. In particular, it focuses on how the changes in the funding structure of multi-disciplinary old British universities have affected their propensity to carry out research of a more applied nature. First, the evolution of the funding structure of UK universities in the period 1989-93 is studied. Then, in order to assess the influence of the funding structure on the research output, the characteristics of 47 multi-disciplinary universities are examined at the start and at the end of the period considered. The analysis developed offers some evidence to support the hypothesis that policies oriented towards a decreasing state financing of university research aimed at a larger university funding from industry may be to the detriment of the scientific research output of these institutions as measured by publications per researcher.