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<p>IMHO your “well-known fact” is highly disputable, and I’m not at all sure it’s a “fact.” My observation, after 15 years on university faculties and many years on university faculty hiring committees, is that resources and compensation are important in faculty relocation decisions, but they are often not the dominant factors. Top faculty want to be at top schools for the prestige value, for their own visibility and reputation in their profession, and for the benefit of working with other top people in their field and for the opportunity to teach, train, and mentor top students. One’s place in the pecking order is often as important as money, if not more so. In addition, top people in any given field usually have the luxury of deciding where they want to live—by region, rural v. urban, big city v. college town, by climate preference, by cultural preferences, in their hometown or alma mater or away from it, etc. There are also in many cases spousal and family preferences based on the spouse’s (or partner’s) occupation and career goals, schools, proximity to friends and extended family, and other such factors. So money is just one factor among many. Other things equal, money usually wins out; but other things are seldom equal, and in most cases it’s the “other things” that dominate the decision.</p>
<p>In the case of St. Olaf v. Carleton, however, many of these factors—higher salaries, higher levels of institutional financial resources, greater prestige, better students—would point in the direction of Carleton. The town is the same either way. Some faculty might prefer St. Olaf due to its ethnic (Norwegian-American) and religious (Lutheran) origins and traditions. St. Olaf alums might be inclined to want to teach there even if they had competing offers from Carleton. But by and large, Carleton is going to win most of those battles for top faculty.</p>