From: James Kaufman <jim**At_Symbol_Here**LABSAFETY.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] The Economics of Lab Accidents
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2022 14:23:51 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: CAHk9oEQy_XWnO7Pt5tmmb0u6_08USg7MeZKbuq-LR+VNhDQfoA**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com


Some of you may be interested in an article (106 pages) on the economics of lab accidents.

The is the electronic link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3912401

Here's the abstract:

The Returns to Physical Capital in Knowledge
Production: Evidence from Lab Disasters

Stefano Baruffaldi (a), Fabian Gaessler (b)

a University of Bath
b Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich

August 29, 2021

ABSTRACT
We establish the importance of physical capital in knowledge production. To this end, we exploit adverse events (explosions, fires, floods, etc.) at research institutions as exogenous physical capital shocks. Scientists experience a substantial and persistent reduction in research output if they lose specialized physical capital, that is, equipment and material they created over time for a particular research purpose. In contrast, they quickly recover if they only lose generic physical capital. Affected scientists in older laboratories, which presumably lose more obsolete physical capital, are more likely to change their direction of research and recover in scientific productivity.
These findings suggest that a scientist's investments into their own physical capital yield lasting returns but also create path dependence in relation to research direction.


James A. Kaufman, PhD

Founder/President Emeritus


The Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI)

A Nonprofit Educational Organization for Safety in Science, Industry, and Education

192 Worcester Street, Natick, MA 01760-2252

(O) 508-647-1900 (F) 508-647-0062 (C) 508-574-6264 Skype: labsafe; 508-401-7406

jim**At_Symbol_Here**labsafety.org www.labsafety.org Teach, Learn, and Practice Science Safely




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