{"id":6327,"date":"2014-04-08T15:37:57","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T19:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=6327"},"modified":"2018-12-28T15:06:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T20:06:12","slug":"its-not-just-the-economy-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2014\/04\/08\/its-not-just-the-economy-stupid\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s NOT JUST the Economy, Stupid!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c The Social effects of immigration outweigh the economic, so they should be the main criteria for policy\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"money\"Hein de Hass, the co-director of the International Migration Institute at Oxford University, recently wrote a <\/span>blog<\/a> stating the old refrain, \u201cit\u2019s the economy, stupid.\u201d Haas stated matter-of-factly that immigration to developed countries can never be significantly reduced because immigration causes the GDP of these countries to increase, using his native country, the Netherlands as the example that proves the rule. That is the only argument he proffered in that blog probably because he believes that is the <\/span>only <\/i>argument that matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

A deeper analysis recognizes that, in an increasingly interconnected world, migration presents, more than ever, challenges that go beyond labor market supplies and demands. Those challenges are also social, psychological, cultural, political and legal, yet most migration studies and debates offer only economic analyses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Haas uses the same crude logic that proponents of mass immigration in Europe and the U.S. resort to \u2013that immigration makes the economy bigger, bigger is always better, therefore, the more immigration, the better, ad infinitum. According to him, migration is a \u2018demand-driven phenomenon\u2019 and is, therefore, \u2018beyond control.\u2019 Only a prolonged economic recession from the receiving side can discourage people from immigrating.<\/p>\n

To be sure, economic drivers are not to be discounted: global remittances in 2013 alone totaled $540 billion<\/a>. Supply and demand of international labor markets are determining migration indicators; immigrants do pursue job prospects, seek higher wages, and many do eventually receive taxpayer funded benefits in their receiving countries. Material aspirations, however, do not explain it all.\u00a0 Migration is first and foremost about people.\u00a0 Some people move while others under similar circumstances don\u2019t; those who do are often regarded as the most adventurous.\u00a0 People\u2019s mobility is also linked to friends, family, and neighbors from the homeland who, by emigrating first, facilitate the transition for the newcomers. Those who provide social networks have also led the way: migratory journeys are not only physical; they are also, \u201cacts of the imagination<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

When people migrate, they carry with them their own moral codes, skills, attitudes toward work and risk-taking. The reproduction of cultural capital and notions of identity and belonging \u2013 or \u2018cultural transplants\u2019<\/a>, as labeled by Thomas Sowell \u2013 are in fact inherent to migratory processes. Many feel strongly about retaining much of the culture they left behind, but cultural preservation is not exclusive to immigrants. The recent Swiss vote against mass immigration was, for many, a demonstration of \u2018national sentiments\u2019 and loyalties (not to be confused with ultra-nationalism and far-right allegiances). According to Dominique Reyni\u00e9<\/a>, a French political scientist, the Swiss did not only defend their standard of living but also their \u2018way of living\u2019 <\/i>in, what he calls, a public display of \u2018populisme patrimonial\u2019<\/i> (popular preservation of the cultural heritage). Jean Dominique Giuliani<\/a> (Chairman of The Robert Schuman Foundation<\/a>) addressed the subject as well:\u00a0 \u201cThe problem of immigration is a cultural problem, it is not a problem of racism or anti-immigration. It is simply about: what is going to happen to us\u2026to our social codes\u2026This is an identity issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

It ultimately does come down to identity, and how individuals identify themselves as part of a group.\u00a0 Paul Collier<\/a> drew upon Nobel laureate George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton\u2019s concept of \u2018Identity Economics\u2019<\/a> to explain how successful organizations motivate through identity attributes. For instance, to the simple question: \u2018What makes a good plumber?\u2019 the \u201cessential step is neither technical training nor incentive pay, but whether the plumber has made the leap of identity: \u2018I am a good plumber\u2019\u201d. According to a plumber who made this leap, not doing a good job would be in opposition to his sense of identity. Successful organizations encourage their workers to \u201cinternalize the objectives of the firm\u201d, or put more simply, to \u2018become insiders\u2019. Becoming an insider, making that leap is essential for successful immigration. Otherwise, the probable scenario is the one described by the French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut<\/a>: \u201cprevailing mistrust, rampant communitarianism and the formation of parallel societies that grow distant from each other\u201d.<\/p>\n

So yes, it\u2019s the economy, but so much more\u2026