Why doing a phd

<p>There's a fair question regarding what drives a person to do a PhD. Maximizing the earning potential could be a driven factor, but since it seems PhDs in some areas do not guarantee this, people can ask: <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/phd-students-irrational/">Are PhD students irrational</a>?</p> <p>The article<sup id="fnref:1"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:1">1</a></sup> debates around the notion that humanities PhDs were never expected to contribute to the economy, and therefore their job success was not a concern. However, STEM PhDs are incentivized from the state. If job prospects for STEM PhDs are not great, then they would be making an irrational choice. </p> <p>The article has many references, and I think it is sad that they only discuss from the job market perspective, and not from the value generation perspective. There is a clear reason for governments to incite people to pursue STEM careers if one thinks about the value graduates <em>can</em> generate. See: <a class="wikilink" href="/technology_transfer/">Technology Transfer</a>.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="/tags/career">#career</a> <a href="/tags/education">#education</a> <a href="/tags/higher-education">#higher-education</a> <a href="/tags/phd">#phd</a> </p> <div class="footnote"> <hr /> <ol> <li id="fn:1"> <p>https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/phd-students-irrational/&#160;<a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:1" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text">&#8617;</a></p> </li> </ol> </div>