Seminar_20241011

Seminar Title: Tenure in Higher Education: different strokes for different folks

October 11, 2024 | 13:00 | Business School (WB-1005)

Dr. Mauro Bambi (Durham University)

Abstract:  In this paper, we develop a tenure-track model where academics have different productivity and behavioral characteristics, such as sensitivity to gains and losses, loss aversion, and satiation levels. Our analysis reveals that within the cohort of typically productive academics, behavioral traits are crucial for differentiating among three categories — `high achievers,’ `achievers,’ and `disengaged’ — based on variations in their research output before and during tenure. Furthermore, we examine the strategic implications for managers who must optimally set the tenure-track benchmark, taking into account these characteristics. Additionally, we introduce a variation of the tenure-track model that incorporates uncertainty in the tenure-track benchmark and demonstrate that, under specific conditions, this can enhance the research output per academics of a department or university.

Bio: Dr Mauro Bambi is currently a Reader/Associate Professor at Durham University Business School and an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies. From 2019 to 2022, he served as the Director of the Centre for Macroeconomic Policy (CEMAP), an accredited research center at DUBS. Before joining Durham University, he held academic positions at the University of York in the UK, ETH Zurich in Switzerland, the Barcelona GSE Institute d’Analisi Economica in Spain, and the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. His academic interests have traditionally centered around Growth Theory and Mathematical Economics. Over time, his focus has expanded to include Decision Theory and Behavioural Economics. Currently, he is engaged in exploring applications of Mean Field Games in industrial economics and macroeconomics, supported by an IAS Major Fellowship. His research contributions have been recognized in top-tier journals such as the Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Mathematical Economics, Economic Theory, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, and the Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications.

Event Time and Venue: October 11, 2024, 13:00, Business School (WB-1005)

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