What you say holds in a micro sense but not in a macro sense. No individual has a right to a certain type of employment. It is no great tragedy if an individual does not find work doing what they love doing. However, if too many people are unable to find work doing what they like doing (or are content doing) then this is bad for society.
Before the present fiscal crisis a friend of mine justified the validity of liar loans on the basis that they are an agreement between two consenting parties. Of course an individual has the right to make a bad decision and of course 20 million bad decisions can affect the entire nation.
Would you make the same argument that you made if the underemployment rate for Ph.D.s in electrical engineering was 25%? There is a point where this becomes a big deal. I'm not saying we are at this point but the existence of such a point should not be denied.
It would be a very bad thing for this country if, in general, advanced degrees required too high an opportunity cost.
> if the underemployment rate for Ph.D.s in electrical engineering was 25%
Probably. I'd say that too many people were getting PhDs in electrical engineering. If possible, we should address the root cause of that.
For example, I suspect there are too many people getting Masters degrees in computer science today. It doesn't show as much because they just go back to the same jobs they had before, but I think it's a big problem that so many people are doing things that don't benefit them and I'd like to see that change. Mandatory outcome reporting in educational institutions might be a good way to combat the problem.
Before the present fiscal crisis a friend of mine justified the validity of liar loans on the basis that they are an agreement between two consenting parties. Of course an individual has the right to make a bad decision and of course 20 million bad decisions can affect the entire nation.
Would you make the same argument that you made if the underemployment rate for Ph.D.s in electrical engineering was 25%? There is a point where this becomes a big deal. I'm not saying we are at this point but the existence of such a point should not be denied.
It would be a very bad thing for this country if, in general, advanced degrees required too high an opportunity cost.