Social contracts and the impact of matching fund requirements on American research universities

Matching fund and cost-sharing requirements are increasingly pervasive elem ents in federal support of academic research. Federal agencies perceive uni versities as receiving benefits in the form of increased reputation and int ellectual property rights from the performance of federally funded research . Distributed benefits are seen as justifying distributed costs. This trend challenges the public goods rationale for federal support of academic rese arch. Reinforcing this trend are the increases in the number of research-in tensive universities that induce agencies to seek what are, in effect, pric e discounts and induce universities to voluntarily offer them. The response s of universities to this new bargaining environment and public policy issu es are examined.