Retreating from Science: The Long-Run Effects of the 1970s U.S. Military Disinvestment from University Research

We thank Eli Alster and Andy Howard at OSW CAPE and Mike Lippitz at the Institute for Defense Analyses for helpful conversations and Dror Shvadron for helping construct the PQDT-OpenAlex linkage that allows us to measure PhDs working in the defense industrial base, as well as audiences at Boston University, the 2026 ASSA annual meeting, the CEPR-LSE-Kiel Institute Conference on Defence Economics, and discussant Karthik Sastry for feedback. We also thank Mark McDonough for the policy memo that got this project started, and Jinkang Huo for outstanding research assistance. Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business provided financial support. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1951470 and 2420824 and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation under Grant No. G-2023-21064. All errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.