Different analogies, but both are true.

Young, educated, [and motivated] workers are a desired and contested resource.

Producing them is also important.

> Young, educated, [and motivated] workers are a desired and contested resource

Theoretically, sure. In reality this isn’t reflected in the immigration policy of any large economy. Portugal makes news with this for a reason.

> Producing them is also important

The point is having lots of underutilised young people is a liability. Gold doesn’t join gangs or riots.

Agreed. There are also interests that benefit greatly from them them being a highly contested resource with restricted supply.

If you are holding gold, you dont want someone to flood your market with more.

> If you are holding gold, you dont want someone to flood your market with more

Right, this is why it’s a stupid analogy. That’s true for gold. But if you’re hiring young, educated people, you do want your country flooded with them.

It sounds like we mostly agree on this. To be honest, I was mostly reacting to how you initially responded with a flat negation, so Im not going to steel man a simple analogy as a universal truth.

I agree that these analogies all depend on which perspective you are framed in. If you are a hiring manager, you want cheap effective candidates. If you are a worker, you want a labor shortage, at least for your role.

Public policy is a whole different mess. It is set by competing self-interested parties and may or may not bear any relation to the aggregate public benefit.