Unintended consequences of additional support on the publications of universities: Evidence from China

摘要

In this paper, we employ the propensity score matching (PSM) strategy and difference-in-differences (DID) strategy to investigate the changes in the research strength of non-211-Project universities after being co-managed by local governments and the Ministry of Education. The results show that the number of publications of non-211-Project universities has experienced a significant decline since the universities began to be co-managed by local governments and the Ministry of Education. This finding has been proven to be robust. Non-211-Project universities have undoubtedly been supported with more research resources after being co-managed by local governments and the Ministry of Education. However, the R&D total factor productivity (TFP) of research resources has experienced a significant decline. The latter negative impact on publications is greater than the former positive impact. This has led to a situation whereby these universities have experienced a decline in the number of publications after being co-managed. This study reveals the unintended consequences of additional support on the publications of non-211-Project universities. Therefore, improving the R&D TFP will be conducive to increasing the number of publications of non-211-Project universities.