A Measure of the Impact of Tenure

Abstract

Although prevalent on campuses, the rationale for tenure lacks an economic explanation of its influence on campus outcomes such as teaching. Because only half of American academic librarians are eligible for tenure, they comprise a sample appropriate for testing the qualitative impact of tenure. The model reported here shows that the quality of institutions is at least partially predictable by the number of librarians and their tenure status. Tenure, therefore, appears to have an impact as a monitor of quality in academe.