Klein and Thompson's fix for herd judgement in research funding is concentrated discretion, not wider review. DARPA, on about a tenth of NIH's budget, lets program managers fund what they choose without peer review and without penalty for failure; the authors conclude the system should trust individuals more and bureaucracies less, and propose giving NIH panel members a golden ticket to fund one proposal alone. This cuts against crowd- or market-scored allocation: the book's answer is one accountable chooser, not more judges.

Evidence 4 passages

• groundsAbundance, Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

  Unlike traditional scientists, these program managers do not face peer review. They can make big counterintuitive bets, are not punished for failure

• groundsAbundance, Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

  With an annual budget of $4 billion, about one-tenth of the NIH, DARPA punches well above its weight.

• groundsAbundance, Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

  the American innovation system would benefit from trusting individuals more and bureaucracies less.

• groundsAbundance, Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

  To mimic the program director's power at DARPA, we could give some NIH panel members a golden ticket such that they would have the power to independently approve one proposal each year,

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