Public procurement in Big Science: politics or technology? The case of CERN
研究了欧洲核子研究中心大型强子对撞机项目采购订单的决定因素，发现技术因素和政治约束（尤其是成员国公平回报规则）共同影响供应商选择，且瑞士和法国企业享有优势。
Abstract Public procurement from Big Science Centers (BSCs) yields a variety of spillover effects that can ultimately have growth enhancing consequences for their Member States (MS). We study the determinants of procurement for the biggest research infrastructure ever built: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. A unique database of firms that have registered to become industrial partners of the LHC program allows us to estimate the determinants for potential suppliers of receiving an order from CERN. We compare the relative weight of firms’ technological features and CERN’s procurement rules aimed at securing a juste retour for its MS. Although in accordance to CERN’s procurement rules our results highlight the role of both technological factors and political constraints, we also show the existence of a premium toward Swiss and French firms. We document that the constraints related with the achievement of a juste retour affect—directly or indirectly—the procurement policy of many European BSCs and international bodies whose budget is financed by the public funds of their MS. Therefore, our results have policy implications that go beyond our empirical application.