[ShamelessC]

> I've never seen this argument.

It's incredibly common. Even here on HN. I personally empathize with it because I'm a programmer and I'm quite certain much of the work I do provides less value than a decent teacher would _in the long term_.

Societies benefit from paying teachers more as:

- they deserve more

- higher salaries attract better teachers and actual domain experts who have little economic incentive to teach when they can make more elsewhere.

- a better educated workforce will pay for itself in the long run, although I think FUD over deficit spending isn't necessary here and would be fine if it eventually creates increased output/asset creation.

I am not claiming that these ideas are proven, just that I personally empathize with them. If you or anyone has research to counter or back up these claims that would be very helpful.