Math Geek Mom: Academic Sandwiches

By Rosemarie Emanuele. There is a theory in Labor Economics that proposes that for some workers, the supply curve describing the number of hours of labor offered at different wage rates might actually bend backwards, leading to lower amounts of labor offered at higher wages. The theory is that at higher wages, some workers might use their extra income to “purchase” more leisure, thus actually offering less labor at very high wages. With the full realization that academic wages in my corner of the world are certainly not “very high”, I often think of this as a good explanation for why some of us choose academia over more high-pressured jobs in industry or government. Only for us, “leisure” should be defined very broadly, and include the ability to teach young people in a nurturing environment and pursue research interests of our own choosing rather than those assigned to us by superiors. Read more...