The funding of economics research : does social capital matter for success at the National Science Foundation?

Utilizing data on research proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Economics Program over a 5-year period, this paper examines whether the social capital stock of grant applicants enhances their access to research resources by increasing the probability of being awarded a research grant. We estimate latent-variable specifica- tions of the NSF decision to fund a research proposal. Our results show that, given ability, being a National Bureau of Economic Research associate increases the probability of a research proposal being funded. We interpret this as being consistent with the hypothesized causal effects of social capital.