The rationale for tenure is still valid. But the system has turned the academy into one of the most conservative and costly institutions in the country. Yes, conservative: Economists joke that their discipline advances one funeral at a time, but many fields must wait for wholesale generational turnover before new approaches take hold.

Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama

Academy Advances Approaches Before Conservative Costly Country Discipline Economists Fields Funeral Hold Institutions Joke Many Most Must New Still System Take Tenure Time Turned Turnover Valid Wait Wholesale Yes

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I'm a tenured professor. But I'd get rid of tenure.

— Francis Fukuyama

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Funeral by funeral, theory advances

— Paul A. Samuelson

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I've always had a Marxist understanding of history: democracy is a result of a broad modernization process that happens in every country. Neocons think the use of political power can force the pace of change, but ultimately it depends on societies doing it themselves.

— Francis Fukuyama

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Economists want their discipline to be a science, and they have nailed down a few precepts, but many of their debates are still clouded by ideology.

— Nathan Myhrvold

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We wanted our own magazine, ... I don't think they copyrighted the word 'Interest.'

— Francis Fukuyama