Freedom for all! A (selfish) pledge for open borders.

This blog post originally appeared in Dutch on the Oikocredit Netherlands website.

The compassion for refugees – or, more generally, for all immigrants – seems often to be dominated by the fear of immigration’s economic consequences. That fear is understandable, but is it also justified?

‘If you put two economists in a room, you get two opinions’, Winston Churchil famously said. He then added: ‘unless one of them is Lord Keynes, in which case you get three.’ It was therefore surprising when, in 2006, five hundred economists agreed upon one thing: immigration is good for the economy. In an open letter to President Bush they expressed their concerns about the fear of immigration. Concerns about immigration are common and understandable: what if I lose my job? what if my wage goes down?

Such fears, however, are ‘exaggerated’ according to the letter’s signatories, who come from widespread ideological backgrounds: among them were Gregory Mankiw (a former economic policy advisor to George Bush) and Bradford DeLong (a progressive economist and blogger). The economists’ letter was not based on political ideals, but on scientific evidence.

Theory

First, there are a number of theoretical arguments in favour of immigration. Immigrants might ‘steal’ jobs, but they also buy more products. As a consequence, the market grows and more jobs are being created. We thus share the economic pie with more people, but the pie is also larger.

No one doubts the value of highly educated immigrants. Think of the Russian Sergey Brin, who founded Google, or the Taiwanese Jerry Chang, who started Yahoo. And  let’s not forget that immigrants played a key role in the Dutch Golden Age.

What about immigrants with a lower educational background? They can also make a valuable contribution to society. For example, certain services will become cheaper, such as childcare. In turn, this enables women to free up time for a job.

Practice

Nice theories, but how does it work in practice? Mette Foged and Giovanni Peri investigated the effects of immigration in Denmark. Many immigrants have arrived there since 1995 as a consequence of political crises in Bosnia, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Foged and Peri found that those waves of immigration didn’t have an impact on unemployment. Even more surprising: the salaries of low-educated Danes increased. The arrival of immigrants caused them to find other – better-paid – jobs.

Of course, economists have a considerable blind spot: they tend to ignore social, political and cultural consequences. Immigration might raise crime or change cultural norms. Nevertheless, possible disadvantages seem to be outbalanced by the benefits. German research shows that immigration positively affects the local population’s happiness.

A toast

I’m completely in favour of the moral arguments for immigration, but those arguments don’t seem to hold water in the current debate. They lose ground against unfounded populist arguments. That’s why this blog post shows: immigration is not only good for ‘them’, but also for ‘us’.

So let me propose a toast. To those who find their way to The Netherlands or other countries. To those who wish to make their lives more beautiful and thereby enrich our lives. A toast to freedom.

Want to read more?

The website openborders.info shows in a nuanced and informed manner that open borders are a win-win-win situation: good for the migrant, the home country and the country of destination. I can wholeheartedly recommend this website, because both sides of the debate are represented.

Thanks to Martijn Hendriks of the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organsation (EHERO).