[coderintherye]

You don't seem to understand that there is nothing preventing mediocre applicants from asking for more money than better applicants. How much a person asks to be paid may or may not have anything to do with their actual ability to deliver results. And in fact, what has been empirically shown is that applicants who ask for and receive outsized compensation are actually worse performers on average.

[jusonchan81]

Ok, probably you and I are talking about different things.

But on your point, what's the root cause of this issue? Why do people hire people with outsized compensations when the other option is empirically proven?

[coderintherye]

If you read the article I linked you to, it answers that very question.

You can use archive.is to read it if you don't have a WSJ subscription: https://archive.is/bkDCO