Following up on my recent post noting that in some social science fields, including economics, faculty hiring places heavy (though far from exclusive) weight on one “job market” paper, here are some other aspects of how faculty hiring works in economics. Tweets from @LauraEllenDee were part of my inspiration, and comments on that previous post were a big help too (have I mentioned lately how much I love our commenters?)
I find it interesting to think about which if any of these formal and informal practices could or should be adopted in ecology and other scientific fields (even though I think current practices in ecology are mostly reasonable). Learning about how things work in other fields stops you from taking things for granted* and helps you imagine how things could work in your own field. It also gives you a more realistic sense of what any reforms in your own field might achieve. Learning about how things work in other fields both helps you dream and keeps you grounded.
One challenge in thinking about this is that to some extent these alternative clusters of practices may be “package deals”. You can’t always pick and choose, at least not very easily, because any one practice might well be undesirable or unworkable in isolation from other practices.
So here are some other hiring practices in economics (follow that link for the post from which I’ve gotten much of my information. See also.) This is obviously a broad-brush picture and I’m sure I haven’t gotten all the details right; comments welcome. If all you know about is hiring practices in ecology, get ready to enter the Twilight Zone. A world like ours in many respects, but weirdly different in others… 🙂
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