[QUOTE="SUD123456"]
[QUOTE="Barbariser"]
You are a Frenchman who earns 1.32 million dollars a year. From now on, of every extra dollar you earn you only receive 25 cents. In Belgium, which is literally right next door to you and has an extremely familiar culture in addition to very lax worker migration rules, every extra dollar you earn will give you 50 cents. Where would you rather work and where you would work more productively?
Barbariser
It won't matter, assuming you are an employee of a company. There are only so many jobs that pay $1.32 MM+ per year. The frenchman moving does not magically create new jobs. Either he won't get a similar job, or he will get a Belgian's job which will then deny that person that job.
With free mobility of labour the net effect is zero. No new jobs are created. The position that pays $1.32 MM+ in France will be filled by the next qualified candidate as will the position in Belgium. The only thing that will change is the name of the person occupying the position.
Again, I am making an assumption of employment with a company, not self employment or moving your sole proprietorship, or some weirdo rare situation where only 10 people in the world are qualified, etc.
Yeah, and the latter aren't exactly a small and insignificant group. Does France want to lose athletes and other celebrities who have a relatively easy time earning those income levels in nearly any country they pick?
If the Frenchman moves to Belgium or Luxembourg or whatever, there's no guarantee that his replacement will be as productive as him, or that there will be a replacement. After all, a wage level like that would indicate that the number of people qualified for the job is not high in supply.
I find it funny that your two examples are in fact in endless supply.
We don't want to lose athletes!!! OMG, there aren't thousands of replacements for them? OMG, the billionaire team owners will lose their one or two or three stars because they won't pay to account for after tax dispartities in different places of the world. They already do. And everyone else on the team is an interchangeable part.
Whatever will the celebrities do?!!!! Who cares?
The vast majority of people earning $1.32 MM+ are in senior to executive corporate positions. They aren't going anywhere and the overwhelming vast majority of them are interchangeable parts with vast numbers of anonymous middle to senior people just chomping at the bit to replace them.
If you believe that the salaries of senior to executive corporate positions is actually driven by supply of labour you are naive. You can deduce this by examining any large company organization chart. Pick any senior to executive position and examine how many people work for them. Do you think none of them are capable of being promoted? If so, doesn't that mean that their boss is in fact incompetent for failing to develop his/her staff?
I make more than $1.32 M. I am surrounded by people that also make more than $1.32 M. Many of them suck. Indeed, I wouldn't hire 50% or more of my peers to clean the floors, let alone have them fill the positions they do fill. I like to think that I do a better job of leadership as many of my subordinates have been promoted...but I could be delusional on that too. One thing I do know for sure: we are all replaceable. It is extremely rare in business to find someone who isn't.
All that said, I still don't agree with French policy but not because I think that an exodus of people will leave. That won't happen for both economic reasons and personal reasons...despite what a few celebrities say...and to them good riddance.
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