That's a bit pedantic, the principle is exactly the same showing humans operate on the same principles regardless of geography. OP clearly discussed "the idea o

That's a bit pedantic, the principle is exactly the same showing humans operate on the same principles regardless of geography. OP clearly discussed "the idea of meritocracy", not "the exact threshold" and the study just pinpointed a threshold while confirming the universality of the mechanism. Whether it's $500 in Bangladesh where Google tells me the "typical" salary is ~$150-$300, or $500k in SV where the typical pay might be $150k-$300k the principle is still very much the same. Everyone claims meritocracy but in the end it's proven it's not individual merit we're actually looking for. We're looking to maintain barriers around our layer of society and allow some form of real meritocracy only within a layer.