Defense research, government investment

ABSTRACT The Dutch government is in the process of revising its national flood safety policy. The current Dutch Flood Defense Act lays down design standards for the Dutch flood defenses. These standards have been based on/rationahzed by economic optimizations in which investment costs are balanced against the discounted value of (potential) future losses. Loss of life is not considered separately. This paper presents the results of a research project that evaluated the potential roles of two risk metrics individual and societal risk. These metrics are already used in the in the Dutch major hazards pohcy for the evaluation of risks to the public. Individual risk concerns the annual probabihty of death of an average, unprotected person. Societal risk concerns the probability of a multi-fatality event. This paper discusses technical aspects of the use of individual and societal risk metrics in flood risk management, as well as policy implications. 

The pharmaceutical industry interacts with many government bodies and financial communities that influence their activities. In the U.S., the federal government, through the National Institutes of Health and to a lesser extent through the National Science Foundation and Department of Defense, is the major source of investment in basic research directed to the benefit of public health. It dwarfs that of any similar institution in Europe or Japan. The National Institutes of Health (27) research budget is around U.S. 24 billion and the work of the NIH has significantly contributed to advances in the healthcare sciences (1). 

---