Competition cuts both ways. In the 50’s and 60’s, the teaching profession was one of the few that readily accepted women. As time went on, other areas offering higher salaries opened up to women. When I started in 1980 in Research and Development at a Fortune 500 company, there were 3 women who had Ph.D.s. ( out of 600+ scientists). When I retired, 4 of eight of my direct reports who were women, 3 with Ph.d.s. To expect the best and the brightest to take lower paying positions because they feel called to teach doesn’t work in a capitalist system. While I realize that some people do that, it doesn’t work in the larger picture.
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“There is no such thing as a normal period of history. Normality is a fiction of economic textbooks.”
— Joan Robinson, “Contributions to Modern Economics” (1978)
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