> it seems only fair to say that academics optimize for prestige and publication in good journals.
On one hand you have lots of people arguing that the legal duty of a company is only to make money for its shareholders. When large companies fail at that goal, it's bailout time.
On the other hand you have peer-reviewed journals where authors are incentivized to find accurate results, and researchers will cite articles on the basis of their veracity (or, if incorrect, as punching bags). Of course that's a fallible process and just as vulnerable to cronyism, but when researchers are caught cooking the books they're discredited, not rewarded.