Why The Grass Isn't Always Greener | Luis Antonio Salvador | TEDxUofTScarborough

Luis Antonio Salvador opens by describing the dream instilled in him since childhood: study hard, get into a global university, build a career overseas, and success will follow. When he told friends and family he was moving to Canada, the reaction was unanimous — 'You're set for life.' The assumption was that cleaner air, safer streets, better education, and higher pay made any destination outside home a promised land. Acting on this belief, he packed his bags and moved to Toronto.

Once at university, Salvador noticed that students from all over the world shared a common answer to why they came to Canada: a better life. However, years later, many of those same friends are now choosing to return to their home countries — not because they failed, but because they see more opportunity elsewhere. This trend is not isolated to his social circle. Statistics Canada reported over 100,000 people left Canada in 2024, the highest emigration figure in 50 years, and the numbers are still rising.

Seeking an explanation, Salvador recalled an applied economics course he took during a semester abroad at King's College London, where he encountered the Roy model. This economic theory argues that high-skilled individuals tend to fare better in more unequal countries, while low-skilled individuals fare better in more equal ones. He explains these concepts using the Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (maximum inequality) — and defines skill in terms of individual productivity and the value one creates in society.

To illustrate the Roy model, Salvador presents a scenario involving two characters: Isabel, an engineer, and Antonio, a sales clerk. Both live in a country with a Gini coefficient of 0.3 and consider moving to either a more equal country (Gini 0.2) or a more unequal one (Gini 0.4). In the more equal country, Antonio gains access to better minimum wages, healthcare, and public transport, but Isabel finds her income potential capped. In the more unequal country, Antonio struggles, but Isabel's talent can be rewarded exponentially. This paradox — the same system that protects one person can restrict another — forms the intellectual core of his talk.

Salvador then turns personal, acknowledging that by the Roy model's logic, he — as a skilled individual from the more unequal Philippines — should theoretically be better off returning home. He was even offered roles at major Philippine companies with faster career progression and greater social standing. Yet he has chosen to stay in Canada. His reason is his younger sister, who is completing her bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto. He made a promise to his parents that he would not leave until she graduates, and he intends to keep it.

Broadening his point, Salvador argues that people prioritize different things: wealth, safety, cultural belonging, relationships, or even simply better weather. These differing values shape individual definitions of 'better,' and no single country can satisfy everyone's version of it. He cautions against the belief that migration automatically solves problems or guarantees a better life, calling it 'one of the biggest lies told today.' Rather than debating whether the grass is greener elsewhere, he urges people to identify where their skills, values, priorities, and happiness intersect — and to define 'better' for themselves rather than letting others or surface-level metrics do it for them.