Government Funding and the Direction of Academic Energy Research

How does public funding relate to the direction of energy research?

This working paper studies whether government grants shift researchers' subsequent publications toward funded topics. It compares energy researchers supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation with matched researchers, using publication text to track changes in research direction.

What the study found

• Funded researchers' later publications became more similar to their grant topics in the reported comparisons.
• Topic shifts were largest for ARPA-E awards, while broader NSF calls were associated with smaller changes.

How the study works

Text-based measures of research similarity are combined with matched-control comparisons and regression analyses of scientists' publication trajectories.

Scope and limitations

• Matching and regression depend on assumptions about comparability; this is not a randomized funding experiment.
• A change in research topic does not by itself establish improved research quality, commercialization, or climate outcomes.

Using this work

Treat the findings as working-paper results and check for newer versions before citing. Use the paper's definitions of funding programs, comparison groups, and topic similarity when comparing results across agencies.

Cite this work

David Popp, Myriam Gregoire-Zawilski, Lizhen Liang, Daniel E. Acuna (2026). Government Funding and the Direction of Academic Energy Research. NBER Working Paper No. 34856. https://doi.org/10.3386/w34856

@article{popp2026government,
  title = {Government Funding and the Direction of Academic Energy Research},
  author = {Popp, David and Gregoire-Zawilski, Myriam and Liang, Lizhen and Acuna, Daniel E.},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {NBER Working Paper No. 34856},
  doi = {10.3386/w34856},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3386/w34856}
}