Planning versus Free Choice in Scientific Research

The potential benefits of centrally planning the topics of scientific research and who should be engaged in them are studied by means of a linear program. The efficiency conditions show that the planning goals could be achieved through self-motivated choices of scientists without direction by planners, when the “scientific worth” of problems is well-defined and known, provided the costs of research are essentially only the opportunity costs of the researchers. When substantial capital costs for apparatus arise, this self-motivation fails and some central control over benefit/cost becomes necessary. How this may be combined with the widest freedom of choice is discussed in the context of existing practices in sponsoring research. JEL Classification: D61, D71