When I look at the problems of today's academy, e.g. extreme ideological bias, replication difficulties, p-hacking, salami-sliced publication --- I can't help but wonder whether the root cause is the pay structure not properly taking into account the value of a high-quality academic ecosystem. It feels like there's a market failure here here.
Due to disgracefully low wages, we're selecting people for academic life who want to be there for all the wrong reasons, be it a sense of being trapped on a bad career path, an opportunity to relish in sanctimony, or some kind of obsolete notion of the dignity of living a life dedicated to knowledge, which academic now seldom produces and which we seldom prize.
College administration costs are going through the roof. Would it hurt to redirect some of this spending toward efficiency wages for faculty? Money brings prestige, and prestige generates all sorts of benefits.
Due to disgracefully low wages, we're selecting people for academic life who want to be there for all the wrong reasons, be it a sense of being trapped on a bad career path, an opportunity to relish in sanctimony, or some kind of obsolete notion of the dignity of living a life dedicated to knowledge, which academic now seldom produces and which we seldom prize.
College administration costs are going through the roof. Would it hurt to redirect some of this spending toward efficiency wages for faculty? Money brings prestige, and prestige generates all sorts of benefits.