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                                                    IMPACT ASSESSMENT DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 2
                                                                              MEASURING THE BENEFITS
                                                                        OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH
                                                                                               Vincent H. Smith
                                                                                      Director General's Office
                                                                        International Food Policy Research Institute
                                                                                                2033 K Street, NW
                                                                                            Washington, DC 20006
                                                                                               Tel:  (202)862-5600
                                                                                               Fax:  (202)467-4439
                                                                                    Email:  IFPRI@CGNET.COM
                                                                                                        July 1998
                                  Discussion Papers contain preliminary material and research results, and are circulated prior to a full
                                  peer review in order to stimulate discussion and critical comment.  It is expected that most Discussion
                                  Papers will eventually be published in some other form, and that their content may also be revised.
            Little is known about the impact of social science research in general, and food
         policy research, in particular.  In order to expand the scope of available academic
         research and to develop quantitative methods for estimating the impact of IFPRI's
         work, several papers were commissioned from social scientists.  Furthermore, IFPRI
         held an essay contest to solicit research from a broader range of scientists.  The
         resulting papers were discussed at a two-day symposium organized by IFPRI in 1997. 
         This Discussion Paper is a revised version of a paper prepared for and discussed at the
         symposium.  Other papers will be published in this Discussion Paper series over the
         next months.
                       CONTENTS
                                          Page
        Abstract.............................................................ii
        Acknowledgments....................................................iii
        1.  Introduction.......................................................1
        2.  A Preliminary:  Measuring Basic and Applied Research ......................3
        3.  The Benefits of Social Science Research..................................4
           Separate Effects of Social Science Research............................6
              Firms...................................................6
              Households..............................................7
              Government Agencies.......................................9
           Joint Effects....................................................9
        4.  Measuring the Benefits of Social Science Research ........................11
           Conventional Approaches to Estimating the Productivity Effects of Research:
              Relevance for the Social Sciences.............................12
           The Case Study Alternative.......................................14
        5.  Conclusion.......................................................17
        Notes.............................................................18
        References..........................................................21
                          i
                        ABSTRACT
        This paper addresses two questions.  The first is “What are the benefits of social science
        research?”; the second is “How should they be measured?”  The response to the first is
        that, as with research in the physical sciences, the benefits should be identified in terms of
        changes in economic surplus for different groups.  It may be useful to use a framework
        that considers the incidence of the effects of social science research on firms, households,
        and government agencies. The response to the second question is that estimating returns
        to social science research using conventional econometric techniques may be particularly
        difficult.  Instead, it may be necessary to resort to a case study approach, but care must be
        taken to ensure that the cases selected for study are genuinely representative. 
                          ii