Quote:
Originally posted by taxwonk
In stem cell research (and other extremely long-tail research projects) the potential return is too far into the future to justify the expenditure on normal risk-reward metrices. .
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I hear that argument a lot for businesses generally--they underinvest in things for which the return comes too slowly. While there may be such a systematic bias, I don't see how one can distinguish between using taxpayer dollars to overcome that bias with respect to stem cells, but not with respect to a host of other things that business purportedly irrationally fail to invest in.
Moreover, even within the medical research arena, the distribution of federal funding is influenced more by interest group politics than any rational calculus of risk and reward. I'm not sure how one can pick out stem cell research for some favored treatment just because it offers such promise.
