The answer is research and lots of it, much underwritten by the federal government.
For instance, Ms. Hopkins said, before committing to a show with a high price tag, the trustees want to know how many tickets are expected to sell and how much underwriting will be needed.
"There is a lot of variation in how much underwriting is going on," he said.
For more than two generations, the I.M.F., the World Bank and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (later the World Trade Organization) did much to underwrite global political stability as well as America's and the world's prosperity.
Insurance companies would underwrite much of the government's coverage.
The State Department endorsed their efforts and will underwrite much of the survey.
The federal government has indicated that it will underwrite much of the cost, city officials said.
Of course, the American and European governments still underwrite much of the research and development that underpins their respective aircraft industries.
A decade ago, Mancuso persuaded a Florentine bank foundation to underwrite much of his research and help launch the Society for Plant Neurobiology; his lab also receives grants from the European Union.
At the same time, German banks also underwrite much of the Continent's debt and exert considerable influence in domestic politics, according to Mark S. Copelovitch, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
