The Korean academic market

We know that American professors trade jobs like Liz Taylor used to trade husbands. Apparently, this isn't true in Korea. According to Daniel Hamermesh at Freakonomics, Korean academics mainly stay at one university throughout their entire careers. Why?

Korean professors’ salaries are very similar, so it’s hard to get a raise by threatening to leave. Also, all the universities are in Seoul, so the living conditions are independent of where you’re employed. The only gains to moving come from having better students or being at a more prestigious institution. These matter... but the examples are few.

Interesting.