Earmarking more resources for basic science is actively harmful to the progress of human longevity research.
April 1, 2026
Original Paper
Financing the Longevity Frontier 
SSRN · 6402479
The Takeaway
Because extending the human lifespan requires perfect coordination between basic and applied research, funding 'pure' science in isolation creates a massive efficiency gap that private markets cannot bridge. This structural imbalance makes the overall system less effective than if the basic science was funded less or coupled with specific outcome prizes.
From the abstract
Extending the maximum lifespan potential is among the greatest prizes available to science. This paper models longevity research financing, where complementary basic and applied research units are funded by institutionally segmented capital pools. Funders cannot internalize cross-unit complementarities, generating an efficiency gap of approximately 50% that is invariant to contract design, the discount rate, and the strength of research complementarities. Matching contracts restore coordination