Immigrants by Legrain - Migration is not only for birds

I have just finished "Immigrants: your country needs them" by Philippe Legrain (see also here). It is evident that the world is not ready yet for open borders, but Legrain thinks we should start thinking about it, and advances a view that almost puts the 'open borders' policy as the inevitable and natural evolution of the current 'bordered world'.

Legrain points out an obvious yet pretty much ignored fact: current migration policies create a global apartheid with some people moving freely around the world and some other people being confined to certain areas. This 'global apartheid', he claims, is not only morally ill and unsustainable, but also economically harmful, as he tries to show how a world with open borders would boost culturally and economically, leading to a fairer, happier and richer planet.

My favorite piece of the book debunks the rather popular and mis-informed view that diversity and social welfare are incompatible. I have even heard some people adhere to this view by citing completely out of context biological models for the evolution of altruism. The classic popular coffee table discussion example is to compare the US to Sweeden, claiming that diversity in the US does not allow for a welfare system such as the Swede. Those who cite this example generally ignore (or do not mention) that highly diverse New York City is plagued with social programs funded by possibly the most diverse tax-payers community on earth. Legrain notes how this diversity vs welfare issue has been generally advanced by the right-wingers, who frame the issue in a way that artificially forces the left to choose between two things they love: diversity and social welfare.

I am not in a position to judge if all the information presented in the book is balanced, but considering all what is mentioned I think the arguments are rather convincing. For my personal taste I would have preferred some more numbers and more statistical rigor in the quoted numbers.

The book in general is just a story, but a very beautiful and thought-provoking one. Kudos for the amount of information condensed and presented. My feeling is that the book is a good primer on migration issues.