Abstract I estimate the impact of a historic grant program, funded by George Soros, that provided grants to over 28,000 Soviet scientists shortly after the end of the USSR. Exploiting a discontinuity in the grant eligibility formula, I show that the grants more than doubled publications on the margin, significantly induced scientists to remain in the science sector, and had long-lasting impacts. While existing evidence shows negligible impacts of scientific grants, I show that funding for science can have high marginal returns when funding levels are low relative to the stock of human capital.

Citation Ganguli, Ina. 2017. "Saving Soviet Science: The Impact of Grants When Government R&D Funding Disappears." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics , 9 (2): 165-201 . DOI: 10.1257/app.20160180 Choose Format: BibTeX EndNote Refer/BibIX RIS Tab-Delimited