71–74 of 74 posts
The article doesn't really touch on this, but for people embarking on a PhD program, school is what they've been doing 8 or so hours a day for 16+ years and school is what they're good at (or else they wouldn't have gotten into the PhD program). It's the least disruptive path post-college for a certain group of college grads and their choice is to trade potential financial gain for stability and familiarity. That may…
I don't see why being irrational is bad. A "labour of love" is precisely something that does not obey the law of diminishing returns. Passion and interest are much more sustaining and fulfilling than a job in the finance sector just because it is highly paid. I think "rationality" is a stupid assumption, often wrong. Of course, people need more money, but a lot of people are also willing to make sacrifices for someth…
As you point out, there are plenty of non-monetary benefits to academia: passion, interest, fulfillment, pride, etc. These things have different value to different people depending on their own interests and goals. If the total benefit (tangible and intangible) is worth more to someone than the opportunity cost, then, according to economics, that person is still acting rationally in such pursuits.
I'm not an economist, but this is seriously undergraduate-level Introductory Economics material.
I'd say it entirely depends on the assumption that to get a PhD means that you want to be a professor (and teach in the US at a reasonably decent school and get tenure one day). If that really is your goal, then yes, you should think very hard before you do it. The Adjunct scam is really, truly atrocious. Adjucts and grad students can unionize now, though, and it only takes one strike in the e. coli labs for a resear…
Grad students have been forming unions since the '70s, and it hasn't had any impact. There are so few tenure track positions you can't afford to even slightly irritate the people you need to get one, and everyone views their stint as a TA or an adjunct as temporary.