As a result, companies find it harder to finance productive projects.

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Executives at the majors argue that selling declining assets frees scarce managers to concentrate on the biggest and most productive projects, which will make the most difference to the company's fortunes.

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Historically, when that spending has gone towards projects with long productive lives (like roads, bridges or schools), it has worked out, but when the money is used for transfer payments, unneeded infrastructure (as in the case of Japan), or non-productive activities like war, the outcomes are less positive.

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In Ethiopia, for example, farmers receive cash and food in exchange for work on community projects through the government-led Productive Safety Nets Program, which both the U.S. and the UK support.

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One study found that federal energy-research spending became more productive when it switched from large-scale demonstration projects to lots of smaller-scale technologies.

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Drawing on his vast experience with defense, intelligence and information technologies, the Admiral was given a post at one of the most creative and productive organizations in the federal government, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

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The company is working with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on a scientific version of the computer called PERCS (Productive, Easy-to-use, Reliable Computing System).

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