ceo salaries and academic tenure

read an interesting argument in the armchair economist which tries to explain why the top ceos (even those in arguably failing companies) take home very high salaries and even if they are sacked are given very attractive severance packages. the argument is that most shareholders (at least the bigger players) have diversified stock holdings and the failure of one company doesn't affect them seriously. however they stand to benefit significantly if a particular risky investment pays off with huge returns. thus they have very strong incentives to encourage ceos to take on high-risk high-reward projects and the high salaries are essentially a buffer mechanism to assuage any fears the ceos may have of massive financial distress in the event of the project failing to yield the expected return.
couldn't help but imagine the parallels with the academic tenure system. faculty are evaluated after the tenure period and given academic tenure, essentially giving the guarantee the position for the entire lifetime even if they are absolutely unproductive. on one hand the system seems flawed, there is no real penalty for senior professors to become very unproductive. on the other hand the above economic argument would suggest that universities (the investors or shareholders) have massively diversified assets -- the non productivity of one faculty member does not devalue the universities reputation. but if a high risk high reward project succeeds bringing in huge visibility (and of course funding) the university stands to gain a lot -- tenure is essentially the buffer (similar to the high salary) to encourage senior professors to take on riskier projects (of course no one cares about graduate students, they are a low investment and low return of investment since they will graduate and go elsewhere!)

contradiction

http://us.rediff.com/wc2007/2007/feb/24kapil.htm

first half, says pick a young guy and groom him
second half, says pick sourav

as much as we would like it to be otherwise, sourav is not young.

one more quote via woody allen

The only absolute knowledge attainable by man is that life is meaningless

-- leo tolstoy via "hannah and her sisters"

who funds chocolate research?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/16732194.htm

wonder who keeps funding these studies that keep saying chocolate is good for you, however reassuring these are it leaves you in doubt as to the motives of the research :-)

update:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/19/AAAS.TMP says:
"Scientists funded in part by the Mars Inc. candy company"

qotd

So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.
- ben franklin (via "The Omnivore's Dilemma")

going where the bus takes you

waiting at the bus stop .. one of two options . .given the inability to decide on the destination the best option is to hop on the first available bus and go where it takes you .. thats life ..