Grants don’t remove risk – researchers have to compete for subsequent grant applications

Downside risk invites the most straightforward rebuttal. The government does not bear downside risk alone. Researchers also face downside risks from project failures. While the NIH does not require success from its funded projects - science is risky, and innovative science more so - nevertheless it is easier to generate data, and especially to publish in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, if research achieves its stated goals. This bias in favor of positive results has its own powerful negative consequences for science, 190 but it does keep some of the risk of failure squarely on the researcher. Failing to receive or renew grant funding results in a range of consequences that can hit a researcher hard, including shame among peers, the inability to hire (or the need to fire) subordinates, denial of tenure or promotion, and the end of a lab and a career. 191