Let's use an example I think I've done before.
I used to work in London and had a house down there. I sold and moved up here. Academics are paid the same anywhere in the UK. So, now, if I wanted to go back I'd have to take a massive quality of life hit to afford a decent property. So I won't. Nor will many others. Eventually the London Unis will not be able to attract top-end academics for this reason and the quality will fall, so then the funding will fall. The funding that also supports large parts of the hospitals associated with universities. And businesses associated with them, and commercial collaborations, and so on and so forth. Same for anything where salaries are set nationwide. Something's got to break in the end.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Thu 15 Aug 2013, 12:45, 1 reply)