Rational Allocation of Resources to Scientific Research

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the rational allocation of resources to scientific research. A major research effort has been devoted to the theory of decision making. To a considerable extent, the general theory has been closely identified with working out a proper conceptual foundation for mathematical statistics. It reviews that there is a large literature concerned with particular areas of application ranging from linear programming models for petroleum refineries to models of accountability for school systems. The chapter also discusses basic ingredients of the general theory. The exact choice of a utility function explains that the conceptual basis for evaluating the allocation of research funds to various parts of science, conditional on the total sum allocated for research, and the basis for deciding the percentage of the national budget or the gross national product that should rationally be allocated to scientific research.