Researching income inequality isn’t cheap, and it favors the bold who ask for a big paycheck.
A group of UC-Berkeley economics professors who are “income inequality” experts earn upwards of $300,000 per year, according to The College Fix.
The California Policy Center report, which used 2014 public records, found that the prominent scholars leading or advising the Berkeley Center for Equitable Growth are highly compensated as professors, even as the center attempts to find ways to create economic growth that is “fairly shared,” the center’s website states. Berkeley’s equitable growth centers director, Emmanuel Saez, earned a salary of approximately $350,000.
The Center for Equitable Growth’s three advisory board members, all economics professors at Berkeley, received similar salaries to Saez’s. Professor David Card made $336,367 in 2014. Professor Gerard Roland took in $304,608. Professor Alan Auerbach earned $291,782.
Factor in pensions, which equate to 2.5 percent times their final average salary times the number of years employed, and compensation is extremely high.
Professor Robert Reich, another vocal income inequality expert at Berkeley who was the secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, earned $263,592 in 2014. Reich helped produce “Inequality for All,” a 2013 film about income inequality.
The report also points to other Berkeley employees who are highly compensated.
Daniel “Sonny” Dykes, the head coach of Cal’s football team and the highest paid Berkeley employee, earned $1.8 million in 2014. Additionally, Former Cal football coach Jeff Tedford made $1.8 million despite being relieved of his coaching duties in 2012. The report found that the next five highest-paid Berkeley employees were also coaches.
Marc Joffe, a policy analyst with the California Policy Center and author of the report, said in that the salaries earned by top administrators, professors, and coaches contradicts the Center for Equitable Growth’s commitment to resolving the issue of income inequality.
“The hefty salaries and generous pensions awarded to Berkeley administrators, professors and coaches are funded by taxpayers – most of whom earn far less than these academic luminaries. So if UC Berkeley economists are really opposed to income inequality and are concerned about low-paid workers, they might consider sharing some of their compensation with the teaching assistants, graders, readers and administrative staff at the bottom of Cal’s income distribution,” the report said.
