All other things being equal with 2 programmers who have perfect knowledge of their market worth, the better one will cost more. But this premise is proved fals

All other things being equal with 2 programmers who have perfect knowledge of their market worth, the better one will cost more. But this premise is proved false trivially. 1. People don't have a good sense of their market worth. It's possible to convince/coerce someone to work for less than they're worth ("think of the exposure!", "we'll be big in 5 years") while other people have an inflated sense of their own worth. 2. All other things _aren't_ equal. Indian programmers cost less because of Purchasing Power Parity and relative wealth. For a person who's monthly expenses are $400-500, getting a salary of $3k a month is a sweet deal. Plus A salary of $3k per month would put you comfortably in the top 0.5% of Indian society, able to afford most luxuries.