Gross, Daniel PSampat, Bhaven N2021-08-092021-08-092021-05-012574-07682574-0776https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23580<jats:p> Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, researchers, and journalists have made comparisons to World War II. In 1940, a group of top US science administrators organized a major coordinated research effort to support the Allied war effort, including significant investments in medical research that yielded innovations like mass-produced penicillin, antimalarials, and a flu vaccine. We draw on this episode to discuss the economics of crisis innovation. Since the objectives of crisis R&amp;D are different than ordinary R&amp;D, we argue that appropriate R&amp;D policy in a crisis requires going beyond the standard Nelson-Arrow framework for research policy. </jats:p>Crisis innovationR&D policyNelson-ArrowCOVID-19World War IIOffice of Scientific Research & DevelopmentNational Defense Research CommitteeCommittee on Medical ResearchConference2021-08-09