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While the cumulative nature of knowledge is recognized as central to economic growth, the microeconomic foundations of cumulativeness are less understood. This paper investigates the impact of research-enhancing institutions on cumulativeness, highlighting two effects. First, a selection effect may result in a high correlation between "high-quality" institutions and knowledge of high intrinsic quality. Second, an institution may have a marginal impact -an incremental influence on cumulativeness, conditional on the type and quality of knowledge considered. This paper distinguishes these effects in the context of a specific institution, biological resource centers (BRCs). BRCs are "living libraries" that authenticate, preserve, and offer independent access to biological materials, such as cells, cultures, and specimens. BRCs may enhance the cumulativeness of knowledge by reducing the marginal cost to researchers of drawing on prior research efforts. We exploit three key aspects of the environment to evaluate how BRCs affect the cumulativeness of knowledge: (a) the impact of scientific knowledge is reflected in future scientific citations, (b) deposit into BRCs often occurs with a substantial lag after initial research is completed and published and (c) "lagged" deposits often result from exogenous shocks. Employing a difference-indifferences estimator linking specific materials deposits to journal articles, we find evidence for both selection into and the marginal impact of BRCs. Moreover, the marginal impact increases with time. Public expenditures towards ensuring that discoveries and knowledge are accessible to future research generations may have a higher rate of return than simply funding additional research studies. "If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood on the shoulder of giants."Isaac Newton, 1676

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