Modernizing the Chinese Way: Effect of Big-Science Research Infrastructure on China’s Indigenous Science Growth

Abstract

Since the mid-twentieth century, big-science research infrastructure (RI) has become an indispensable component in modern scientific research. Yet little is known about how emerging countries can use these expensive infrastructures to improve their indigenous innovation and catch up with developed countries. Using data on China-based scientific publications from 1998-2015 and employing a difference-in-differences design, we estimate the causal impact of a major RI, the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF). We find that for affected scientific disciplines, the establishment of SSRF caused 43.5% and 18% increases in the number and percentage of high-quality indigenous publications, respectively, and a 21% increase in the overall impact factor of indigenous publications. Combined, our findings suggest that SSRF has led to a quantitative and qualitative growth of China’s indigenous science. Such findings have important implications for public policy design and a better understanding of the current global technological competition. The study also addresses the concern that China lacks originality and indigenous innovation capability.

Keywords: big-science, research infrastructure, indigenous science, difference-in-difference, emerging markets

JEL Classification: O38, O31, O12