Raiding and Signaling in the Academic Labor Market

Publications signal a professor’s productivity and may lead to raids by other universities. A raided professor learns the value of non-wage benefits at a raiding university, and will quit only if benefits elsewhere are relatively high. The social value of these benefits suggests research may be efficient even in the absence of a direct social value from research. Other results are: in some cases, a school may preempt signaling by paying a higher wage, but it will only do so when signaling is inefficient; and it is inefficient for a university to commit to not match outside offers. *Professor of Economics, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608. E-mail: {[email protected]}. JEL classifications: D82, J44, J62