> contributions are worth 1/4 as much if they live in Warsaw?

Under the "free market", compensation isn't some objective number etched into a tablet somewhere in the universe. Instead, it is the result of market forces.

Yes, usually rationalizing it as "but it's cheaper to live in Warsaw", which is true. That being said it is a reflection of market reality, where some (many) people are definitely unwilling to move for 4x the salary. This doesn't of course mean that SV is "4x worse", but rather is a pricing of their other activities/personal relationships.

There are definitely issues with Google's comp system, but the fact that pay depends on location is IMO not unreasonable.

Especially so given that there's often a lot of flexibility with regards to location.

For example, I chose to relocate from London to Zürich (without changing teams/project). I did it for quality-of-life reasons but the comp also increased quite significantly, even adjusted for cost of living.

And I am not some special snowflake: everybody around me who wanted to be based somewhere else had their relocation requests approved.

if it's the best offer you can get, would you quit just because someone else on another continent is being paid more?

If they’re not they can apply for a transfer after 2 years to Mountain View and they’ll get it, unless US Immigration vetoes it. I hear the Zürich office pays pretty well too and if you’re Polish I believe immigration is very easy as they’re EU citizens.

By then accepting their contract, yes?