[ExI] Private and government R&D

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/6/30 Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com>:

> If your taxes were a lot lower -- let's say the governments of the world stop funding all R&D and lower the taxes of everyone in proportion to that -- would you not donate any of it to R&D?  I know I would.  Would it be impossible for a bunch of likeminded people, in such dire circumstances, to pool their money and resources together to fund R&D?  I know I would pool mine with others -- as I already do for some projects and research.  (Granted, I'm not the Ford Foundation or Rand Corporation, but, then again, about 40% of my income goes to the government.)

I would vote for my taxes to be higher so that I and everyone else
could contribute to useful government projects, such as science,
health and education, but if my taxes were lower I wouldn't
voluntarily contribute to these projects myself.

We potentially have this situation: 100% of the population is be
willing to be taxed for a particular project on the understanding that
everyone else will also be taxed, but 0% of the population is willing
to contribute to the project voluntarily if they know that no-one else
need contribute. Therefore, a project that everyone supports and is
happy to pay for is never undertaken.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou