Wednesday 6 August 2014

In Defence of Immigration

Most people these days seem to accept that immigrants make great contributions culturally, politically and economically to the nation they migrate to. Even the critics of Britain's current open-door policy find it difficult to dismiss the benefits gained from the current wave of immigrants from Eastern Europe except, Migration watch that is. Having said that, the chairman of Migration watch, Sir Andrew Green, actually, conceded that of 'course many immigrants make a useful contribution to the economy but, taken in total, the economic benefit is at best marginal'. The fact that the host nation and the immigrants themselves both benefit seems to have been lost somewhere in translation. Indeed, it is left to the astute blogger, Tim Worstall, who kindly reminds us all that such benefits is normally known as 'Pareto improvement'.