Conservative self-selection out of academia is a second-order effect, like women self-selecting themselves off of oil rigs. The first-order effect is that progressives make better academics. This may be due in part to the rather smug assumption that progressives are smarter, but there is also obvious adaptive value to being a progressive in an occupation that both advises and is largely funded by the government.<p>Academia is a parasite on the State, but it's not just any parasite; it's a <i>brain</i> parasite. Academics tell policy-makers what to think, and policy-makers send academics a river of cash. Conservative and libertarian academics, whose political principles oppose the government cash-river, are swimming upstream.