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<p>Ok, then let’s talk about Guido Imbens, who was also named in the article. Guido Imbens wasn’t just any old Econ prof. He was a tenured full prof in two Berkeley departments (Econ and Agricultural & Resource Economics). He was also editor of Econometrica. He also won the teaching award in the Econ department. Hence, he was another rare case of a guy who was both a stellar researcher AND a stellar teacher. But he was lured to Harvard.</p>
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<p>That’s the same argument that sofla used, which I addressed above. The question is not about raw numbers. Berkeley, like any school, has plenty of mediocre (relatively speaking) professors. What really matters are the star professors.</p>
<p>Now, to be sure, Berkeley has other stars left. But that is to be expected, for Berkeley is supposed to be one of the top research universities in the world. Every one of the top research universities has their share of stars. What matters is where the stars tend to shift. If they start shifting away from Berkeley, then that does not bode well.</p>