Fig 4. Less extreme hiring criterion values lead to less pronounced hiring asymmetry between university tiers.

By shifting the criterion to more liberal values—from p(hire) = 0.05 to p(hire) = 0.85—we show that the hiring asymmetry is reduced and ultimately disappears almost entirely. The appearance of a non-meritocratic system is thus perpetuated by the severe competitiveness of the current hiring climate.