Paul de Grauwe, Senior Professor at the London School of Economics (and Emeritus Professor at KU Leuven), posed the provocative question that gives this post its title. The very fact that he raised such a question signals a shift in thinking.
De Grauwe notes that footballers engage in an activity that hundreds of millions of people are willing to pay to watch. In contrast, the knowledge produced by scientists is, in most cases, made freely available to almost everyone—apart from patented innovations, which often fail to generate substantial revenue. Because scientific output is rarely rewarded through market mechanisms, De Grauwe argues that it falls to policymakers to find effective and fair ways of compensating scientists for their contributions to society.
PS - On this topic, it’s also worth recalling the words of Ulrich A.K. Betz, Vice-President at Merck, in a paper published in the journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change::
"Why should a super star scientist be celebrated less than a super star football player?"
