I think the sunk cost fallacy can be pretty powerful when it comes to people’s careers. After spending so much time and effort on a phd I can see it being hard for people to give that up and go into a private sector job that didn’t necessarily need that degree.
In the old nobility, "going into trade" was not to be thought of, and going into the army or navy was a poor second choice to "being on the Land" (yes, they capitalized it).
Money was the means by which you could be on the Land, not the what the Land got you. You ended up spending money on the Land in many cases, which you got from elsewhere. If you got lots more money, you bought more Land. You never sold any Land, unless you had to. If you had spare money, you spent it on hobbies (such as raising horses for hunting) which usually lost money, but required lots of Land.
There were only certain acceptable means of getting the money - inheriting it being the favorite and marrying it being a close second.
Does this sound familiar? Being on the path to a tenure-track research position at a top university is the only acceptable life, and if you get off that track, you tried to stay as close as possible to it.
I think the sunk cost fallacy can be pretty powerful when it comes to people’s careers. After spending so much time and effort on a phd I can see it being hard for people to give that up and go into a private sector job that didn’t necessarily need that degree.
In the old nobility, "going into trade" was not to be thought of, and going into the army or navy was a poor second choice to "being on the Land" (yes, they capitalized it).
Money was the means by which you could be on the Land, not the what the Land got you. You ended up spending money on the Land in many cases, which you got from elsewhere. If you got lots more money, you bought more Land. You never sold any Land, unless you had to. If you had spare money, you spent it on hobbies (such as raising horses for hunting) which usually lost money, but required lots of Land.
There were only certain acceptable means of getting the money - inheriting it being the favorite and marrying it being a close second.
Does this sound familiar? Being on the path to a tenure-track research position at a top university is the only acceptable life, and if you get off that track, you tried to stay as close as possible to it.