-- Because ultimately you are paying for skills. --
I think you're underestimating the quality of the potential staff in Elbonia.
--I don't believe that programmers are fungible, that's a whole load of nuance that would need quantifying before you can go down the "programmers are interchangeable cogs in a production line" (which is the ultimate expression of what you've said).--
I think you're sort of right, but you've obviously never worked on a production line -it takes time for the cogs to learn the skills appropriate for their new place of work, just as it does programmers.