Inequality in Academia

Increasing income inequality over the past few decades has been a widely discussed phenomenon. A recent report on academic salaries shows that the same trend has occurred within the ivory tower. In 1985, the year I joined the Harvard faculty, a typical assistant professor of economics earned 124.8 percent of what an assistant professor of English was paid; now, the figure is 151.4 percent. Over the same period, salaries in business administration and management have risen from 148.5 to 201.9 percent of English department salaries.

Other facts in the report that caught my eye: Harvard comes in as the second best paying university for full professors (average salary of $177,400) and third best for assistant professors ($91,300). To all those loyal alums: Thank you.