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January 06, 2008 Immigration: open or close borders?
In the last edition of The Economist a special report on migration (see report) stresses the global economic benefits of migration and even defends the desirability of rather free international labor movements. In some sense, the bottom line of the report is that free legal migration could be viewed in a similar way as free global trade. In both cases, a more efficient allocation of global resources is allowed for, so that a global gain seems to be guaranteed. The gain is clear for emigrants from poor to rich countries, whose incomes are expected to increase more than five times. The benefits are also quite convincing for sending countries: reduced unemployment, higher wages and, above all, large migrants’ remittances. The main doubts are to be found at host countries, where reluctance towards immigration is increasing. Is this reluctance sensible? One key question is whether “free” low-skilled immigration is or not in the interest of rich economies, since it seems to be clear that high-skilled immigration is almost always desirable and illegal and crime-related immigration is of course undesirable. The case of countries like Spain show that higher degrees of low-skilled immigration usually come together with higher GDP growth rates and lower unemployment rates. Why then is the anti-immigration camp getting stronger almost everywhere in developed countries? Are their arguments rational? Shouldn’t a country like Spain open its borders to legal immigration rather than raising new obstacles to it? 
Posted on 6 January 2008 in Economía Global CommentsThe positive effects of migration flows are clear for today´s public. The main problem resides when the inmigration you get is not what your work market needs and the rythm of this inmigration is higher than what a certain economy can deal with. Posted by: Jose Luis Borrallo at January 7, 2008 08:58 AM Yo estoy de acuerdo con José Luis. Está aumentando el paro. En proporción los parados inmigrantes son más que los parados de nacionalidad española. Los parados españoles tienen una red de protección familiar y social. Los parados inmigrantes están más desarraigados ¿Qué pasará en España si aumenta el paro inmigrante de baja cualificación? ¿Se volverán a su país de origen? ¿Serán un foco de incremento de delincuencia? Posted by: jose blanco at January 7, 2008 10:35 AM Clearly for advanced economies, the more qualified is the migration flow the better. It seems immigration policies are moving in this direction in the majority of these countries, with the difference that some of them apply them more effectively than others. Spain, mainly for its geographic position is more subject to a poorly skilled illegal immigration. Agriculture and Construction have so far absorbed this workers but it seems it will no longer be the case. Reduce or at least regulate this flow should be high on the agenda of our politicians, how to do it is certainly a more difficult issue. Posted by: fabrizio at January 7, 2008 11:44 PM Dear Sir, Thanks Posted by: Muhammad Ishtiaq at January 15, 2008 11:47 AM DEARS, THE QUESTION IS THAT IF A PERSON IS QUALIFIED AND EDUCATED WELL AND KNOW THE SPAINISH LANGUAGE, THEN HOW CAN HE GET THE LEGAL STATUS AND OFFER HIS SERVICES FOR THE COUNTRY DEVELPOMENT. Posted by: ROSHAN at February 15, 2008 06:37 PM dear sir, Posted by: deep at April 18, 2008 01:09 PM i want to know when u open the spain immigration plz contect me Posted by: usman shehzad at May 4, 2008 10:05 PM Post a comment |
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