Quote from hftvol:
Sorry but I do not buy your story. The very few who choose academic careers over the private sector due to their true passion and drive to research and eventually publish groundbreaking developments can be counted on one hand globally in a ten year span.
Obviously, the net worth that comes along with a career of a professional in finance, consulting, technology, anything, is a lot higher than the net worth of most any tenured professor.
This leaves me with the conclusion that most in academics are there because it leaves them with a convenient, lower stress life style while it comfortably places them in the middle to upper-middle class in terms of net worth. Nothing wrong with that at all but they are on a scale closer to the one choosing a relaxing life style on a deserted island than someone trying to bring the best out of him/herself. And it comes again down to the 90-95% of people who tried to reach the mountain top or know they cannot reach it and instead settle with less but at least the second best choice.
See, only look at the attitude of your average professor or researcher. Do most strike you as being engaged, highly passionate and motivated or do they mostly come across with an attitude of "I hope the damn office hours are over soon" or "I do not really care what you guys think of my lecture or research"? Someone who is engaged and who has a genuine love for what they do reflect their passion in anything they say and do. Just think about that for a moment and tell me how many of 100 research papers you came across most recently strike you as noteworthy of keeping or bookmarking...
you don't make a case by using the word obviously. business professors have lucrative consulting assignments. that + 6 figure salaries+ pension benefits offers the possibility of outstripping the average professional on wall street. comparing average professors to wall street professionals is comparing apples to oranges. a more useful comparison is business professors who are in the masters and phd programs.