4 ms·

Why build anything for locals if you can charge "foreigner price"?

by thebean11 5y ago

browningstreet 5y ago
Still a lot of locals.
- thebean11 5y ago
  Which doesn't matter if there are enough foreigners. Given the choice developers will build for the richer foreigners.
  - bigthymer 5y ago
    I think there is enough capacity to build for both so increasing richer foreigner demand is not slowing down the building to meet local demand.
    - thebean11 5y ago
      Yeah I bet there is now, but what happens if tomorrow the government starts handing out tons of visas to remote workers and retirees?
currentoor 5y ago
Why sell cheap fast food when you can charge michelin star prices?
- munificent 5y ago
  I don't think this analogy conveys anything particularly useful. The reasons most restaurants don't charge Michelin star prices are: * Ingredient costs go up rapidly too. * Because of that, the profit margins are narrow in the restaurant business at all restaurant price levels. There are rich restauranteurs here and there but owning a high end restaurant is still a very risky business venture and many are barely scraping by. * You become talent bound. Finding chefs who can prepare food at that level is hard. Designing a good menu is very hard. Food is like any other creative art, you can't just arbitrarily decide to make amazing food—many try and fail. * There is limited demand. Most people can't afford to eat high end food often and even those who can often don't want to go to the same restaurant over and over. I don't see how any of this maps to the topic being discussed.
  - notahacker 5y ago
    If we're talking about construction work in South-East Asia, the same basic principles apply. Limited demand because there really aren't that many foreigners relative to locals (and some of the foreigners don't have more money than the local middle class anyway), and satisfying the foreigners' more exacting standards, weird ideas about construction and insistence on exotic materials needs more skill than most local construction workers possess, and competent English. That means most people in construction are only going to get to work for a wealthy Westerner through a middleman, and that middleman is going to pay them the standard local rates.
seanmcdirmid 5y ago
Local demand is much larger than foreigner demand, catering just to foreigners leaves a lot of profit uncollected. If foreigner demand is unlimited, then sure, all the capital will simply chase their money, but it’s quite impossible where foreigners make up a small minority of the population.

Why build anything for locals if you can charge "foreigner price"?

browningstreet 5y ago

Still a lot of locals.

thebean11 5y ago
Which doesn't matter if there are enough foreigners. Given the choice developers will build for the richer foreigners.
- bigthymer 5y ago
  I think there is enough capacity to build for both so increasing richer foreigner demand is not slowing down the building to meet local demand.
  - thebean11 5y ago
    Yeah I bet there is now, but what happens if tomorrow the government starts handing out tons of visas to remote workers and retirees?

currentoor 5y ago

Why sell cheap fast food when you can charge michelin star prices?

munificent 5y ago
I don't think this analogy conveys anything particularly useful. The reasons most restaurants don't charge Michelin star prices are: * Ingredient costs go up rapidly too. * Because of that, the profit margins are narrow in the restaurant business at all restaurant price levels. There are rich restauranteurs here and there but owning a high end restaurant is still a very risky business venture and many are barely scraping by. * You become talent bound. Finding chefs who can prepare food at that level is hard. Designing a good menu is very hard. Food is like any other creative art, you can't just arbitrarily decide to make amazing food—many try and fail. * There is limited demand. Most people can't afford to eat high end food often and even those who can often don't want to go to the same restaurant over and over. I don't see how any of this maps to the topic being discussed.
- notahacker 5y ago
  If we're talking about construction work in South-East Asia, the same basic principles apply. Limited demand because there really aren't that many foreigners relative to locals (and some of the foreigners don't have more money than the local middle class anyway), and satisfying the foreigners' more exacting standards, weird ideas about construction and insistence on exotic materials needs more skill than most local construction workers possess, and competent English. That means most people in construction are only going to get to work for a wealthy Westerner through a middleman, and that middleman is going to pay them the standard local rates.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

Local demand is much larger than foreigner demand, catering just to foreigners leaves a lot of profit uncollected. If foreigner demand is unlimited, then sure, all the capital will simply chase their money, but it’s quite impossible where foreigners make up a small minority of the population.