Chasing the academic dream: biased beliefs and scientific labor markets

0560157 - NHU-C 2023 RIV NL eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Ganguli, I. - Gaulé, P. - Vuletić Čugalj, Danijela
Chasing the academic dream: biased beliefs and scientific labor markets.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. Roč. 202, October (2022), s. 17-33. ISSN 0167-2681. E-ISSN 1879-1751
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-05082S
Institucionální podpora: Cooperatio-COOP
Klíčová slova: information * biased beliefs * career preferences
Obor OECD: Applied Economics, Econometrics
Impakt faktor: 2.2, rok: 2022
Způsob publikování: Open access
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.07.021

We investigate whether biased beliefs play a role in the persistent demand for postdoctoral training in science. We elicit the beliefs and career preferences of doctoral students at 56 U.S. chemistry departments through a survey combined with a field experiment, in which we randomize the provision of information to a subset of respondents on historical academic placements by department. We first show that respondents have excessively optimistic beliefs about their own and their peers’ chances of obtaining a tenure track faculty position. Respondents who received the historical placement information treatment updated their beliefs about their own likelihood of obtaining a faculty position in a follow-up survey one year later, particularly those who had the most biased initial beliefs. However, we do not find an effect on the likelihood of doing a post-doc at four years post-intervention.
Trvalý link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0333168