The only accountability you can have when dealing with 'research with seemingly no value' is the peer-review and/or peer-valuation process. Otherwise, studies

The only accountability you can have when dealing with 'research with seemingly no value' is the peer-review and/or peer-valuation process. Otherwise, studies on ancient history, dead languages, etc. should be completely eliminated. Yes, academia in that sense is a set of elitists, but then again, only the elite can properly evaluate one another's jobs.