>> I am certain there is no industry jobs that would triple my salary to 500k
You are 100% wrong. It’s not uncommon for a 22 year old from HYPSM to make 400k in Year 1.
Bar a few that go into fenance, hedge funds and similar occupations graduates from top places actually have lower median salaries in the years following graduation because a substantial proportion of graduates go to graduate school or law school.
Full professor outside of econ in my late 30s here. I talked to industry folks in tech a while ago to figure out if I could make more money than now. The consensus was that while it is possible and likely, I would probably have to start from a lower salary than right now and work my way up again. My current salary in academia corresponds to somebody in industry who oversees the work of a large team, and of course it would be risky to put a professor into that leadership position straight away. So I'd have to start lower and get acquainted with how it works on the inside first before moving up again. Same thing the other way around, an industry leader wouldn't be made tenured full professor but rather an adjunct or assistant or associate professor without tenure until there is a decent publication stream. Things may be different for people who just start out after getting their degree, but the more senior you are, the higher the switching costs, and the more you are locked in.