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Comment by trinovantes | Hacker News Reader

I think it's mostly culture. Compared to other regions, US favors innovation/risk taking and sees software developers as value creators rather than cost centers.

There's also the fact that USD is the global reserve currency which makes it much easier to raise capital.

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I doubt the global reserve piece is a major part of it, you could just as easily argue its cheaper to raise capital in Switzerland than the US, but devs are still paid more in the US.

Even historically speaking when the US dollar was not the reserve currency, pay was still higher in the US. It probably comes down to productivity and the transmission of that to wages more than anything else.

Unless you are at a FAANG or similar company, programmers in the US are still seen as cost centers by c-suite people.

There are software companies outside of FAANG, and programmers at software companies, by and large, are seen as more essential that "just" cost centers.

> USD is the global reserve currency which makes it much easier to raise capital.

Could you explain more?

Because it's the global reserve currency it generally means:

1. There's more people around the world with USD who are interested in putting it to work.

2. The US government can easily print and borrow money denominated in USD, which leads to more USD floating around, which ends up in the hands of people from #1.

Thanks. Could you explain how that leads to higher salaries in the US too?

I don’t have any references handy, but I suppose it’s a combination of the U.S. being a top destination for investment (because of the currency, risk-level, innovation and productivity), plus high demand for labor.

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