Who is paying for all this bad science? Do they even have a choice in what they are funding?
We have so many "industries" now whose function is to exploit the taxpayer. We wouldn't have all this bad science or bad risk taking if there weren't a huge patsy willing to pay for it all without regard to actual results.
Like start-ups's main function is to impress VC's so researchers main purpose is to impress their funders. Ideally this should be equivalent to producing great companies and research, but it often isn't.
There is a strong idea from pubic choice economics which makes the claim that the externalities from regulatory or political capture must be considered. It isn't. Arlie Russel Hochschild just finished a treatise in which she claims that Louisiana state government is completely captive to oil interests. I would not be at all surprised that this were true.
We have so many "industries" now whose function is to exploit the taxpayer. We wouldn't have all this bad science or bad risk taking if there weren't a huge patsy willing to pay for it all without regard to actual results.