[YoungEconomist]

Salary information is fairly easy to obtain on the internet. For example, many websites will lay out the average salary for various economists (think tank economists, economic consultants, academic economists, etc). However, I feel that the professor salary figures may be misleading, but then again maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

I imagine many professors are earning more than what the school is paying them. Anybody know of any resources which discuss the average academic economist's total income (besides the money just paid by the school)? Or does anybody have some idea of what is realistic in terms of additional income that professors make? For example, do profs make additional money over the summer via grants? Do profs make additional money for refereeing journals? What percentage of profs are working part-time in consulting, think tanks, other organizations, policy work, etc?

I guess I am wondering if maybe some of the websites unintentionally exaggerate the difference between professor salaries, and say economic consultant salaries. Like one website says the average econ consultant with a PhD makes about $127,000 per year, while the average associate prof makes about $77,000 per year.