After yesterday’s book about a personal experience of a refugee, Ben Max, in charge of global education and teaching materials at CITIM, proposes a book about the benefits of the migration:
Immigrants –Your country needs them
Philippe Legrain / 2007 / 374 pp. / Little, Brown and Company
“If you believe that the world is an unequal place and that the rich should do more to help the poor, then freer international migration should be the next front in the battle for global economic justice.”
Philip Legrain’s work on migration studies and the economic consequences migration has had thus far, will even convert the most militant sceptics on the value of immigration. The last decades have seen vigorous migration waves, which have resulted in an upsurge of anti-immigration tendencies and xenophobic ideas, especially in countries that have largely benefited from immigration. Tabloid front pages have increasingly focused on the apparent devastating impact of migrants on labour & housing markets, terrorism, crime and Western societies in general. Legrain applies a very prudent and factual approach to his study and asks the right questions to show that immigration is economically beneficial and fluid migration is as dynamic as every other form of free trade. In times when immigration controls seem to tighten, it feels refreshing to read that, in fact, restrictive migration policies are, similar to tariff barriers, a hindrance to free trade. In order to support his thesis, Legrain rightfully points his finger at the West, condemning its pledge to the free flow of globalised goods and services, but their reluctance to the movement of people, the world’s most important commodity in his eyes.
“Even though I, wholeheartedly, agree with Legrain’s claim that migration is an enriching development and that policies, designed to restrain it, are mostly counterproductive, there are still some minor complaints to be made. The author uses some sketchy case studies, e.g. Israel. Furthermore, Legrain sometimes fails to completely grasp the phenomenon’s wide-range of consequences to a society, as it is continuously presented as a uniform experience, whereas in reality it varies from case to case. Nonetheless, the book manages to paint a warm picture of immigration over the course of history, and presents it as the blessing that it truly is.”
To request this book, follow this link.
