인문사회계 연구비 지원제도 개선방안: 연구비 정산관련 문제점을 중심으로

We start from the observation that the current financial support system for academic researches is plagued with inefficiencies and irregularities. Researchers (mostly professors) are sometimes even indicted on charges of fraud or embezzlement of research funds. One reason may be that the legal and systemic rules in managing and executing research funds are too rigid to accomodate complex realities in the researches. Another reason may be that researchers are private utility maximizer and therefore they are prone to moral hazard in the use and the report of research funds. We model current financial support system and derive some implications. The current financial support system for academic research is modeled in a game theoretic framework, where a fund provider is a principal and a researcher is an agent in the game. The focus of the analysis is the researcher's decision about the true or false reporting of the use of funds. Depending on the parameter values of the model, the researcher may or may not report truthfully. Based on the analysis using incentive compatible approach, we suggest some measures to revamp the current inefficient and humiliating system. The key is to adjust the parameter values so that the researcher may have the right incentive to report truthfully. This can be achieved by changing rules governing the use and the report of research funds. Specifically, the intangible assets - effort of the researcher which is one of the most important assets in the knowledge economy - should be considered as valid inputs in the research. The accounting rules must be changed to consider the use of intangible assets as expenses. This may require the paradigm shift of all the people involved. In addition, a new kind of financial support system for researches based on the menu of contract approach is suggested.