  This study investigates the impact of competitive project-funding on
researchers' publication outputs. Using detailed information on applicants at
the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and their proposals' evaluation,
we employ a case-control design that accounts for individual heterogeneity of
researchers and selection into treatment (e.g. funding). We estimate the impact
of grant award on a set of output indicators measuring the creation of new
research results (the number of peer-reviewed articles), its relevance (number
of citations and relative citation ratios), as well as its accessibility and
dissemination as measured by the publication of preprints and by altmetrics.
The results show that the funding program facilitates the publication and
dissemination of additional research amounting to about one additional article
in each of the three years following the grant. The higher citation metrics and
altmetrics of publications by funded researchers suggest that impact goes
beyond quantity, but that funding fosters quality and impact.
