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If borders were open

economist.com

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Re: If borders were open

#41

Post by pmarreck »

abhi3 wrote: post #15

Sounds good, doesn't work. A world of free movement would be poorer as mass immigration would overwhelm developed societies, increase conflict and eventually lead to even more protectionism than existed before (Brexit). Rule of law and institutions in developed countries will suffer and mass migration would also destroy the economies of the migrant exporting societies (Puerto Rico).

Article conclusions are based on evidence and reason.

Your comment is based on speculation and belief.

You are awarded no points

Re: If borders were open

#44

Post by MistahKoala »

HillaryBriss wrote: post #17
sattoshi wrote: post #6

>European countries, such as Sweden, migrants are more likely to get into trouble than locals, but this is mostly because they are more likely to be young and male. I don't even know where to start with this. Could it be that young and male aren't the core of the issue? I like how the article almost dismisses the realities of religious and racial conflicts. Then there is this: >If the worry is that immigrants will ou…

> If the worry is that future migrants might not pay their way, why not charge them more for visas, or make them pay extra taxes, or restrict their access to welfare benefits? it just doesn't work that way. there's this thing called equality before the law, or something. this sort of thing has been tried and US state and local governments are generally not allowed, by federal law, to deny the most expensive benefits…

> it just doesn't work that way. there's this thing called equality before the law, or something.

It's like, there are countries other than the United States where this concept of exceptional treatment could apply or be de debated.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/International-tax-for-ind...

Re: If borders were open

#45

Post by smrtinsert »

sergiotapia wrote: post #27

>One seemingly simple policy could make the world twice as rich as it is: open borders. In this utopian paradise the author describes is he willfully ignoring the fact that different cultures exist? Not all cultures are equal, no matter what the current narrative tells you. This is a terrible, empty article. >If lots of people migrated from war-torn Syria, gangster-plagued Guatemala or chaotic Congo, would they bring…

The article doesn't purport to understand or comprehend cultural differences, it's simply exploring the economic case. It's not call The Culturalist.

For an empty article, you've had a very strong reaction to it.

Re: If borders were open

#46

Post by fche »

gumby wrote: post #30
Kazamai wrote: post #5

This is only a good idea if we ignore that a billion people would migrate in a few months in an attempt to escape poverty. The results would be catastrophic.

> if we ignore that a billion people would migrate in a few months in an attempt to escape poverty. The article specifically discusses this.

Is this the part you're referring to:

"Unskilled migrants care for babies or the elderly, thus freeing the native-born to do more lucrative work."

Sorry, no, I don't want migrants deeply afflicted with weird cultures left alone with my baby nor my mother.

Re: If borders were open

#49

Post by fche »

ben_w wrote: post #23
21 wrote: post #16

> Gallup, a pollster, estimated in 2013 that ... 42m would move to Britain. That's about 5 London's. Where would these people live? Will cities magically appear from the ground? UK favellas?

I imagine the migrants would get paid by other migrants to build the hypothetical cities. That is the way literally every US city happened after all — well, migrants or their descendants.

There's a bit of a chicken & egg problem there - if the immigrants come in a giant burst, they won't have any money to pay for new cities with.

Re: If borders were open

#50

Post by jayd16 »

orbifold wrote: post #26
ForHackernews wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Could it be that young and male aren't the core of the issue? Young males commit most crimes all over the world. If you have an alternative explanation, I'd like to see strong statistical evidence to back it up.

Even if you restrict yourself to young males then immigrants have a disproportionate share in crime at least in Germany, actually immigrants in Germany commited ~40% of all crimes in 2015, with a rapid increase in the last few years. It is also pretty obvious on the street level: drugs for example are primarily sold by immigrant gangs, for example africans with turkish bosses.

Where are you getting this?

>According to the Bundeskriminalamt, also known as the Federal Criminal Police Office or BKA, crimes by immigrants rose 79 percent in 2015. But at the same time, the number of refugees in the country rose more than fivefold — by 440 percent. In other words, the typical German was more likely to engage in crime than the average migrant.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/may/...

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