Determinants of Agricultural Economics Faculty Salaries

Abstract

ate descfibed. Health, financial, family, and professional charactefistics of early retirees are contrasted to those of late retirees. Determinants of faculty retirement are idenfified in the context of a general retirement model. Model results indicate that years-of-service to refirement programs, number of children, mental health, health trends, age at initial employment, and faculty-spouse age differences are positively related to retirement age. Salary levels, net worth, and extension appointments ate inversely related to refirement age. Implications of recent changes in the agricultural economics profession on expected retirement behavior atediscussed. Key words: faculty compensation, faculty retirement, professional affairs, retirement profiles. The typical agricultural economist pursues a productive career for thirty to forty years and then leaves the profession through retirement. Given life expectancies that exceed eligible re-tirement age, most of our profession will join