Has the Time Come to Practice What We Teach? The Teaching-Research Trade-Off

Abstract

University teaching at an undergraduate level has always involved opportunity costs, especially in the trade-off of the individual's time between teaching and research. However, recent external forces, as we move into the '80's could very well force major changes in the Agricultural Economic's teaching profession. This paper examines the conventional wisdom that teaching and research are mutually reinforcing. It further examines conflict of goals and several of the economic principles that we teach but seem to ignore in addressing our personal trade-off between teaching and research. A framework is presented for resolving this conflict.