| The purpose of this thesis is to explore job choice and salary among academic and government agricultural economics professionals. Initial data analyses included chi-squared and t-tests to identify significant differences between academe and government and between women and men. A bivariate job choice model was estimated to describe an individual's current job choice of academe or government. Separate ordered probit salary models for academe and government employees originally estimated by Abdula (2008) and Popp et al. (2010), respectively, were re-estimated with the updated data set and tested for selection bias. Finally, an ordered probit combined salary model that included both government and academic respondents was estimated. Women and men showed many significant demographic differences, while academe and government had none. Academe and government were significantly different for almost all measures of human capital and productivity, while women and men exhibited few differences. Final independent variables in the job choice model were importance of location, pension and opportunities for advancement and previously held non-government, non-academic position. Selection was not found to be significant to the determination of either the academic or government salaries, but results are inconclusive due to sample size, complexity of models and software limitations. The final combined salary model included the following independent variables: hours worked per week, number of articles written, administrative appointment split percentage, importance of family time, grant value from 2002--2006 and years of experience in current employment type. |
