I think the state could simply allocate money to long-lived scientific institutions and let the experts there handle things as long as there is no obvious corruption.
replySelf-regulation has a tendency to either work well for a few years, then gradually become corrupted... or be corrupt from the beginning.
replyA distressingly high percentage of humans like zero-sum status games. More people are happier when status is recognized as a semi-unbounded positive-sum game.