Thinking the unthinkable. The immigration myth exposed

Book abstract:

Immigration controls are the barriers that keep the rich countries rich and the poor countries still poorer or so it might seem to the sceptical. In this book, Nigel Harris asserts that such scepticism is misplaced and examines immigration issues from the reverse viewpoint - that immigration makes both the rich and the poor richer.

The work is arranged over six chapters following a dramatic prologue and fulsome introduction which gives the background history to the movement of populations over centuries and without much hindrance until the rise of the modern nation state. The subsequent sensitivities about sovereignty gave rise to the present system of controls, which are covered in Chapter 1. Globalisation - yes that word again - has superseded the old order of separate national economies and the changed nature of controls in an increasingly integrated global economy are the substance of Chapter 2. The raison d'être for controls and the protectionist arguments for them are examined in Chapter 3 with the opposing arguments for an end to controls and a freer movement of labour detailed in Chapter 4. The extent to which those controls can still operate in the current situation is explored in Chapter 5. The final chapter sees a return to the themes of globalisation and the mobility of workers and urges governments to move towards a mutual reduction in migration controls allowing the economics of skills and labour supply to operate and offers the promise of mutual enrichment of developing and developed countries.

Nigel Harris seeks in this book to remove the fears of immigration and as such it is directed towards as wide an audience as possible but it will be of particular interest to academics, students and practitioners in the fields of International Relations and Immigration Law.

Nigel Harris is Professor Emeritus of the Economics of the City, University College, London.