Demand for Research and the Composition of Scientific Response: Intellectual Distance, Research Productivity, and Research Outcomes

When demand for research in a domain increases, scientific progress depends not only on whether more research is produced, but also on which scientists produce that research. This distinction is especially important in emerging domains, where technological trajectories remain uncertain and progress often requires the generation and integration of heterogeneous scientific knowledge. This study examines how academic scientists respond when demand for research increases in a domain and what research outcomes they produce within that domain. Empirically, I exploit the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which led to an unanticipated increase in demand for electric vehicle (EV) research. I find that scientists became more likely to produce EV research after the mandate. However, this response varied systematically across scientists: as intellectual distance from the EV domain increased, more-productive scientists were less responsive than less-productive scientists. Yet among scientists who produced EV research, the research outcomes of scientists from more distant domains were associated with greater novelty, while those of more-productive scientists from more distant domains were associated with greater scientific impact and greater use in downstream EV inventions. These findings suggest that increased demand for research shapes not only the volume of scientific activity in a domain, but also the composition of scientists who produce that research.