A simple semi-endogenous growth model is employed to show that optimal subsidization of both R&D and capital costs is independent of the distribution of R&D skills in the workforce. This holds despite the empirically supported fact that a higher R&D subsidy rate raises wages of R&D workers. --...

In our paper, we view academia from a personnel economics perspective and analyze three important questions: (1) Who decides to become a researcher and what are the mechanisms of selection and self-selection that drive this process? (2) What makes re-searchers stay motivated and how can they be...