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I keep having a confusing experience where immigrants from third world countries, especially India, keep telling me that things are better in their home countries than they are here in Canada. This makes no sense to me given that the GDP per capita in Canada is about six times that of India, even after adjusting for cost of living. Also, the reports from people who visited there and the media show it to be an extremely poor and dysfunctional country. Far more Indians move to Canada for a better life than go the other way, giving up their maids and office jobs to work minimum wage jobs here, but then they say things are better in India.
Specifically, I've heard that the quality of healthcare is better in India and that the standard of living is generally higher. The people who say this still want to stay here, despite having been among the most privileged people in their home countries and living in a country that often doesn't recognize their qualifications or experience.
I've heard similar things from people from China. What is going on? Are they just lying? If so, why?
In addition to what others have pointed out downthread with respect to food, crime, relative status, etc. another thing I've noticed is that people in developing countries are generally free from most of the mental health issues that plague North Americans, and often have a refreshing combination of optimism due to recent economic improvements and a sort of Daoist willingness to go with the flow however things turn out i.e. "Isn't it great we have all these shiny new cars and computers? Maybe it will all go to shit someday but we've dealt with that before and we'll get through it like we always do." I'm not sure if the latter is just a poor people thing or a non-Western country thing, but I suppose we'd have to take a closer look at places like Japan, which has been rich for a while now, to find out.
I know people say the Japanese don’t really want to emigrate but from what I understand a lot of young Japanese are pretty unhappy. The quality of their English education is just extremely bad. If Japanese teenagers spoke English as well as Swedish teenagers do, I bet emigration to the West of young professionals would be much much higher.
Living in a shithole has its advantages. Mainly that competition is a joke.
In America, a Stanford Economics PhD working at the fed is at best a lackey at a Trading Desk. In countries like Colombia, if you have any PhD and work at the central bank, you have real shot at running the printing press.
Now tell me who is more badass. Or influential.
Another example, here in Chile I know a radiologist who moved to the states. Earned real bank there. Strangely returned within a year. His reason?
"I feel richer here"
Actually a relative of mine married a Cornell Economics PhD and moved back with him to South Africa where he rose to be deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank and supposedly only wasn't appointed governor because of his wife's opposition to apartheid.
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