Four Essays on University Economics - KOPS - Universität Konstanz

Economic research in Switzerland
Figure 1.2: Economic research output of the six Swiss universities
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
90/91 91/92 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04
Basel Bern Genf Lausanne St. Gallen Zürich
Own calculation: moving two year averages of the research output (according to the
weighting CL)
Its research output rose quite steadily. However, the average growth rates were smaller
than those of the Universities of St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Bern, which also
registered a moderate increase in research output in the 90s, fell back to the last position
due to a decline beginning in 2001/2002.
The gains of Zurich, St. Gallen and Lausanne came at the cost of the Universities of
Basel and Geneva. In the first half of the 90s, these universities also managed to increase
their research output. In particular, the University of Geneva registered large growth
rates. However, in the middle of the 90s the research output of the two universities began
to decline. The University of Basel was able to stabilize its research output in the second
half of the 90s and, since the beginning of the 21st century, has recuperated nicely. The
research output of the University of Geneva, however, has steadily declined. In 2003/2004,
Geneva’s research output is not significantly larger than it was at the beginning of our 15
year observation period. As a consequence, the University of Geneva, which was leading
for more than six years, is currently only ranked second-to-last.
Since the resources put into economic research are liable to differ substantially across the
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