Wharton Research Data Services:
Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) best paper awarded to John Van Reenen
27 September 2021
A Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) best paper award has been given to John Van Reenen, director of the Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID), and his co-authors Sabrina T. Howell, of New York University, Jason Rathje, of the United States Air Force, and Jun Wong, of New York University, for their research into how the US Air Force improved innovation.
Their paper “Opening up military innovation: causal effects of ‘bottom-up’ reforms to US defense research” found that a move by the US Air Force to allow defence contractors more freedom in suggesting projects, rather than specifying the desired innovation, attracted new and younger firms, increased future venture capital investment and increased patenting.
Professor Van Reenen, is Ronald Coase Chair in Economics and School Professor at the London School of Economics and a former director of CEP.