Where does it pay to be an academic?
In a survey of academic salaries in 15 countries around the world, Canada came out on top, with an average monthly salary of $4,856 per month (in PPP dollars), and China came last with a monthly salary of $1,182. This is according to data collected by the Boston College Center for International Higher Education and reported in the most recent edition of International Higher Education. In general, academics in developing countries have lower salaries than their counterparts in the developed world.
Given these huge differentials, one might expect even more of a brain drain from places like China to Canada than is currently taking place. Of course, government barriers to movement of labor might play a part, and differences in the quality of faculty might also be part of the puzzle. But I don't think that this can fully explain how Canadian salaries are more than four times that in China. There is at least one missing piece that explains this puzzle.
While academics in developing countries had lower wages than their counterparts abroad, they still had salaries that were much larger than the average GDP per capita in their home countries. Faculty in India make 8.7 times more than the average GDP per capita, while that figure is 5.8 and 5.4 for South Africa and Colombia, respectively. In contrast, academics in countries like the United States and Germany earn only between 1.4 and 2.2 times the GDP per capita. In other words, it looks plausible that some academics don't care just about their level of absolute wealth - their wealth relative to the rest of society must be bringing them some utility as well.
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I would suspect that what matters more to most people is not how
I would suspect that what matters more to most people is not how their salary compares to that of the general population (except to the degree that mere prestige matters to them), but how their salary compares to the average cost of living.
Average per capita GDP does not correspond percisely to the average income needed to maintain what the average person in the local culture would define as a "decent" standard of living. But if it serves as a very rough proxy, then looking at the extent to which one's salary exceeds average per capita GDP could well reflect, if in somewhat distorted fashion, the extent to which one's salary exceeds the income needed to maintain a "decent" standard of living.
Andrea...
Andrea, thanks for the comment. I should reiterate that the salary numbers were calculated in purchasing power parity terms. While not perfect, these help adjust for differences between countries in the average cost of living.
Huge collinearity issue here IMHO...
Huge collinearity issue here IMHO. "Relative income" is very likely to be correlated with a lot of desirable attributes in life, from social status to the ability to get laid. I would handle these numbers really carefully.
You don't think that academics might be motivated by other rewar
You don't think that academics might be motivated by other rewards than money?
Personally, I could not care less whether I earned 1,5 times the GDP per capita or 5 times the GDP per capita, as long as I had sufficient opportunity for academic progress and achievement.
Alberto and Tord...
Alberto and Tord, thanks for the comments. I'll try to address the issues that both of you raise.
First, I would say that I've never met anyone who was motivated solely by money; nor have I met anyone who was totally indifferent. It may be the case that academics tend to lean toward the latter type, but I wouldn't necessarily give them a pass on that. Some academic positions carry with them a lot of compensation in kind, so individuals lucky enough to hold these positions can "afford" to appear less concerned about their salary.
As for the question of collinearity, I agree that a higher relative income will be highly correlated with things like social status. That was in a sense exactly my point. If I own a plasma TV in the U.S., it's no big deal, but if I own one in a country where very few others own one, then I can get a lot more than just viewing pleasure out of that television. Of course, it would be tough to say exactly which of these correlated attributes is most important, but I don't think that's necessary for the point I was making.
For one...
For one, academic jobs are not a free market. An academic in India cannot at will become an academic in Canada. There are issues of qualifications, language, immigration restrictions and simply a number of openings. A moderate-size academic department may have one opening a year or less.
Second, academic opportunities matter a lot. For example, from my own observations a significant number of US professors are tempted by positions in selected EU countries by easier funding and better experimental infrastructure and not necessarily salaries. Conversely, current attempts in the Middle East to build lavishly funded universities (Masdar, KAUST) may not universally attract people from other countries.
Thus, salaries are only a modest factor in my opinion.
An academic is a person who works as a researcher at a universit
An academic is a person who works as a researcher at a university or institution in post secondary education. He or she is nearly always an advanced degree holder research.
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Melvin
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