Models of priority-setting for public sector research

Abstract While the literature has discussed structural as well as thematic priorities, much policy-oriented thinking on national priorities for public sector research centres on the designation of preferred areas of science for emphasis. The paper puts forward the view that, at least at the national level, the utility of such benefit-cost approaches is limited. It is suggested that priority-setting is best understood as a systemic process, with outcomes determined by the incentives and inter-relationships of choice rather than by ex ante calculation. Three systemic models, user-based, institutional and political, are advanced and their advantages and disadvantages discussed both in general and with reference to recent experience in Australia and New Zealand.