[Halfmanhalfamazing]

-———This claim that salaries don’t influence which fields people go into-—————

I didn’t realize this discussion was about income influencing which fields are chosen.

I thought it was about the fallacy that federal research meant a thing with regards to R&D.

Perhaps you should read what was posted again?

[lgwdnbdgr]

I didn’t realize this discussion was about income influencing which fields are chosen.

That IS important to the study, though. Based on the article presented, the study builds on the premise that the labor supply is "quite inelastic." If salaries influence which fields people go into (and they most certainly seem to), then the labor supply is NOT "quite inelastic" and the entire study becomes invalid.

As someone who used to work in a federally funded research lab, I'd argue the author was completely looking at the wrong side of the equation. Low salaries cause a lot of people to leave research, but lots of money is wasted on getting fancy equipment that really doesn't have much impact on the advancement of the field.

[steve-b]

Perhaps you should read what was posted again?

I suggest that you take your own advise:

Their labor supply, however, is quite inelastic

To assert that the labor supply is "inelastic" with respect to salary is to assert that changes in scientific/engineering pay will not affect the propensity of people to enter those fields. The absurdity of this notion is obvious to anyone who is not a cloud-cuckooland academic or a paid shill.