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This reminds me of the arguments over visas for tech workers in the US. A common argument I hear is that immigration is robbing Americans of high-tech jobs in S

This reminds me of the arguments over visas for tech workers in the US. A common argument I hear is that immigration is robbing Americans of high-tech jobs in Silicon Valley. I think the mistake in those arguments is that there's no intrinsic reason why the world's tech sector has to be so concentrated in Silicon Valley. The major reason why the industry continues to be so concentrated in Silicon Valley is because that is where the workforce is. If the flow of skilled workers to Silicon Valley - from all over the world - is choked off, the industry will move to where the high-skill workforce is. The Dutch seem to be testing out this theory in real life. I would guess that ASML is heavily dependent on highly educated people who come from all over the world, and that restricting its workforce to Dutch (or even EU) citizens would severely damage the company.

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jevoten 3y ago
People are perhaps not so enthusiastic about giving away their countries just so multinational companies with no loyalty to them don't leave. On the other hand, China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea all manage to have highly-successful tech industries (tech, not ads and social media) with near-zero immigration.
- nequo 3y ago
  > China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea all manage to have highly-successful tech industries At salaries and with work hours that are far from enviable.
- DiogenesKynikos 3y ago
  Those countries have much stronger educational systems (at least K-12) and a much stronger devotion to education than the US. On the other hand, the US benefits massively from its research universities, which attract large numbers of top-quality graduate students from around the world, many of whom remain in the US after their studies and make up much of the tech workforce. > giving away their countries How does immigration of highly skilled tech workers in any way "give away the country"?

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jevoten 3y ago

People are perhaps not so enthusiastic about giving away their countries just so multinational companies with no loyalty to them don't leave. On the other hand, China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea all manage to have highly-successful tech industries (tech, not ads and social media) with near-zero immigration.

nequo 3y ago
> China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea all manage to have highly-successful tech industries At salaries and with work hours that are far from enviable.
DiogenesKynikos 3y ago
Those countries have much stronger educational systems (at least K-12) and a much stronger devotion to education than the US. On the other hand, the US benefits massively from its research universities, which attract large numbers of top-quality graduate students from around the world, many of whom remain in the US after their studies and make up much of the tech workforce. > giving away their countries How does immigration of highly skilled tech workers in any way "give away the country"?