What do you mean by starting salary? A tenure track professor would typically ~35-40 years old, having gone through undergrad, masters&phd plus a couple of postdocs. They would also not make 250k (at least i don't know anyone who made that sort of salary), that's the salary of a full professor at a reasonably prestigious uni.
I'm thinking of friends who graduated from econ PhD programs, typically at around 29-30, and made 180-250K, depending on where they were hired.
That's obviously not everyone, but the comment I'm responding to said that "Professor-level pay is not acceptable for people who attend the Ivies and MIT." I think that low six figures is "acceptable" for people who went to even the fanciest schools :)
