Tenure. An Appraisal of a National Selection Process for Associate Professorship

This paper presents a case study of the national academic competition for associate professorship which took place in Italy during the academic year 1997-98. The two-stage selection procedure led to the appointment of 44 associate professors of Economics (discipline code P01A – Economia Politica). A quantitative analysis will attempt to measure the relative contribution to the appointment probability made by the candidates’ academic credentials; in particular published articles are classified according to the prestige rank of the journals concerned. According to our results, publishing in foreign journals increased the probability of entering a short list of applicants selected for interview (first stage), while the probability of appointment (second stage) was also affected by the evaluation obtained during the interview and other criteria such as a vacancy in the candidate’s own university. All things being equal, candidates from southern universities were favoured, whereas outsider applicants (located in foreign universities or holding non-academic positions, like Central Bank Research Department, etc.) were penalised.