Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them

Philippe Legrain

Published by Princeton University Press 2007

Immigrants

Your Country Needs Them

Philippe Legrain

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400865413

Overview
Contents

About this book

Immigration divides our globalizing world like no other issue. We are swamped by illegal immigrants and infiltrated by terrorists, our jobs stolen, our welfare system abused, our way of life destroyed--or so we are told. At a time when National Guard units are deployed alongside vigilante Minutemen on the U.S.-Mexico border, where the death toll in the past decade now exceeds 9/11's, Philippe Legrain has written the first book about immigration that looks beyond the headlines. Why are ever-rising numbers of people from poor countries arriving in the United States, Europe, and Australia? Can we keep them out? Should we even be trying?

Combining compelling firsthand reporting from around the world, incisive socioeconomic analysis, and a broad understanding of what's at stake politically and culturally, Immigrants is a passionate but lucid book. In our open world, more people will inevitably move across borders, Legrain says--and we should generally welcome them. They do the jobs we can't or won't do--and their diversity enriches us all. Left and Right, free marketeers and campaigners for global justice, enlightened patriots--all should rally behind the cause of freer migration, because They need Us and We need Them.

Author / Editor information

Philippe Legrain is a British economist, journalist, and writer. Previously trade and economics correspondent for the Economist and special adviser to the director-general of the World Trade Organization, he is the author of Open World: The Truth About Globalization, and has written for the Financial Times, the New Republic, and Foreign Policy, among other publications

Reviews

"The single best non-technical defense of a liberal immigration policy. What I liked most was how it put U.S. debates in a broader context; most American sources don't do this.... The book is original in this regard, yet without moving beyond easily understood arguments."—Tyler Cowen, author of Discover Your Inner Economist

In all important respects Legrain is right on target. In the context of the fearful chatter that surrounds the subject, sense as good as this needs cherishing.

Mr. Legrain has assembled powerful evidence to undermine the economic arguments against immigration.

"We expect crisp writing and careful analysis from Philippe Legrain. In Immigrants, he adds reporting from across the world and a passionate defense of our freedom to cross borders. By turns logical, daring, and compassionate, this is a terrific book."—Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist

Shortlisted for the 2007 Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award

Mr. Legrain performs an invaluable service; he makes a good case for the unpopular cause of free flows of people. The book is a superb combination of direct reportage with detailed analysis of the evidence.---Martin Wolf, Financial Times

Immigrants boldly challenges the conventional thinking at every turn. [Legrain] makes a powerful case that free movement of people is just as beneficial as the free movement of goods and capital. The book is carefully written; the argumentation is never slapdash stuff of the xenophobes. [A]n extraordinary book, making the best case I have ever read for an open-border policy.---George C. Leef, Regulation Magazine

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
Introduction: Migration Isn’t Just for the Birds It’s time for fresh thinking about immigration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. War on Our Borders The hidden costs of immigration controls Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
2. Border Crossing How migrants got to where they are now Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
3. Why We Need the Huddled Masses The case for low-skilled migration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
4. The Global Talent Contest The pros and cons of high-skilled migration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
5. Cosmopolitan and Rich The economic benefits of diversity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
6. Stealing Our Jobs? Do immigrants displace local workers? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
7. Snouts in Our Trough? Are immigrants a burden on the welfare state? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
8. ‘Our Heroes’ How migration helps poor countries Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
9. Brain Drain or Brain Gain? The costs and benefits of skilled emigration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
10. It Needn’t Be Forever The case for temporary migration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
11. Alien Nation? Does immigration threaten national identity? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
12. Huntington and Hispanics Is Latino immigration splitting America in two? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	226
13. Stranger, Can You Spare a Dime? Does immigration threaten social solidarity? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
14. Learning to Live Together How to integrate immigrants into society Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	258
15. Illiberal Islam? Do Muslim immigrants threaten our security and our way of life? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
16. Open Borders Let them in Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	318
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	334
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	360