European economists are concerned that research grants are not flexible enough, according to a survey presented in Brussels on 7 July.
The study “Research funding for economics in Europe” gathered the views of 2,385 active economics researchers, who cited flexibility as the most important missing element in European research funding, followed by the quality and transparency of proposal evaluation, and simplicity of application procedures.
The study’s lead author, Ramon Marimon, an economist at the European University Institute near Florence, Italy, said researchers were concerned that once they had secured funding, they did not enjoy the necessary flexibility, for example, to hire an assistant. In particular, researchers may feel worried or burdened by excessive financial control, he added.
According to the report, this concern weighed more strongly than other criteria such as the size of grants, and was particularly true for Framework Programme funding—excluding grants from the European Research Council.
The study also showed that national public bodies were the primary source of economics research funding, together with funding from the researcher’s home institution.
Spain, Turkey, and the UK were heavily reliant on national public funding, while researchers in Germany, France, or Scandinavia received a higher proportion of funding from their home institutions.
Italy was the only surveyed country where both these funding sources combined accounted for less than 60 per cent of the economics research funding, and European funding acted as a “substitute for domestic weaknesses,” the report said.
The country stands out in the study for having a “strongly inward oriented” academic system with high financial uncertainty.
“While the design of the programme often points in the right direction, the funding system lacks the stability that would allow it to make an impact,” the authors write.