Age, pay and colleges

From the NYT "In 2005, a top executive wrote Wal-Mart’s board a memo, which McKinsey & Company helped put together, noting that 'the cost of an associate with 7 years of tenure is almost 55 percent more than the cost of an associate with 1 year of tenure, yet there is no difference in his or her productivity.'"

The situation is far worse at colleges where most senior faculty are paid far more than younger instructors and yet, I suspect on average, are less productive in terms of research and about as productive in terms of teaching. Of course, colleges are controlled by their senior faculty members and so this situation won't soon change.