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Notes -
It brings in a lot of retirees though, looking to exploit the pension system. They don't have to pay 5 million, just invest that money in the country.
The US scheme seems qualitatively different.
How much does $5M benefit the country? How much is the guaranteed pension? To my eye, it would be pretty close even for a healthy 65-year-old.
They keep their investments though. In principle they could invest in Australia from Shanghai, only now they're investing and getting pensions, possibly bringing in family too if they become permanent residents. And Australia is not short of capital, we have if anything too much capital in the country, pumping house prices up to the moon with our massive superannuation funds.
Surely they don't capture 100% of the value of their investment, though. If the financial system is willing to pay you $100k for the use of your money, then they must be using it to create at least $101k of value overall. Otherwise what's the point?
Ah, that may be a problem. Nobody said that markets have to be efficient, and I could believe that they're just stuck in a bad habit at this point.
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