Compensation

This is a huge topic and I am an amateur. But Mark's comment on implied compensation got me thinking that this topic is worth pursuing further. In a lot of the academy, you are investing effort now in the hope of future rewards. As a general strategy, I suspect that this approach is likely more successful than a purely short term strategy.

However, post-doctoral fellowships are an example of a job with a lot of inherent variablity. Now, I was fortunate enough to have had an exceptionally good post-doctoral experience with strong mentors that I highly respect. But I recognize that not all experiences are equal.

In a sense, the strongest anaology to this that I see in general society is that of pensions. it may seem to be an odd link, but bear with me. Pensions also promise a positive improvement in future welfare in future for sacrifices now (in terms of lower compensation, for example). Even the defined contribution form of pension (the 401(k), for example, or the RRSP in Canada) requires that the contributor have trust that these funds will be available in the future. Outside of market risk, you have issues like political risk or people who steal from pension funds (which are often hard to detect as the moeny is supposed to be inaccesible for 40 years and constantly watcing it isn't an ideal strategy insofar as it drives future behavior).

So how do you handle this level of uncertainty about future rewards? Part of it is the social constract that ensures that all parties do their best to keep these sorts of obligations. But it is unclear what you do when the implied compensation is difficult for the employer to fulfill. For example, if the academic job market is rendered flat due to fundign cuts, even the best mentor may have trouble placing a mentee in a good positions. Similiarly, Megan McArdle has opined on the lack of decent choices with under-funded public pensions.

I lack good ideas about ways to handle these sorts of problems but would be open to suggestions!