The Case for 50 Percent Open Borders
Reason magazine|February 2023
A call for restricting immigration accidentally makes the case for radical liberalization.
BRYAN CAPLAN
The Case for 50 Percent Open Borders

ALMOST EVERYONE WILL take Garett Jones' The Culture Transplant as a forthright defense of not just maintaining existing immigration restrictions but tightening them. Every chapter strongly implies that liberal immigration policies are naive and myopic. Jones, an economist at George Mason University (where I also teach), concludes by warning that admitting millions from the poorest nations will impoverish all humanity: "Innovation would decline overall, and since new innovations eventually spread out across the entire planet, the entire planet would eventually lose out." Even his support for high-skilled immigration is restrained: Jones wants to welcome "immigrants who have substantially more education, more job skills, more promarket attitudes, than the average citizen" (emphasis mine), and he advocates "instantaneous citizenship" for "one-in-a-thousand minds" such as "Nobel laureates, great writers, and innovative scientists."

This story is from the February 2023 edition of Reason magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the February 2023 edition of Reason magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM REASON MAGAZINEView All
THE LIBERTARIAN MIND OF DAVID BOAZ
Reason magazine

THE LIBERTARIAN MIND OF DAVID BOAZ

Threats to freedom, Trump vs. Biden, and the wins libertarians can’t seem to acknowledge

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
DARE TO Fail
Reason magazine

DARE TO Fail

THERE’S NO SUCH thing as a universal millennial experience, but DARE comes close.

time-read
5 mins  |
May 2024
CULTURE WARRIOR IN CHIEF
Reason magazine

CULTURE WARRIOR IN CHIEF

THE MODERN PRESIDENCY IS A DIVIDER, NOT A UNITER. IT HAS BECOME FAR TOO POWERFUL TO BE ANYTHING ELSE.

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
Progress, Rediscovered
Reason magazine

Progress, Rediscovered

A NEW MOVEMENT PROMOTING SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGICAL, AND ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS TO HUMANITY’S PROBLEMS EMERGES.

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
'Smoking Opium Is Not Our Vice'
Reason magazine

'Smoking Opium Is Not Our Vice'

AMERICA’S FIRST DRUG WAR WAS DRIVEN BY XENOPHOBIA AGAINST CHINESE MIGRANTS.

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
HOW CAPITALISM BEAT COMMUNISM IN VIETNAM
Reason magazine

HOW CAPITALISM BEAT COMMUNISM IN VIETNAM

IT ONLY TOOK A GENERATION TO GO FROM RATION CARDS TO EXPORTING ELECTRONICS.

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
50 Years of D&D: You Can't Copyright Fun
Reason magazine

50 Years of D&D: You Can't Copyright Fun

THIS YEAR MARKS the 50th anniversary of the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the granddaddy of tabletop role-playing games and one of the urtexts of nerd culture.

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2024
The Pupil Panopticon
Reason magazine

The Pupil Panopticon

BIG BROTHER—and Parent, and Teacher— are watching.

time-read
5 mins  |
May 2024
Congress Could Swipe Your Credit Reward Points
Reason magazine

Congress Could Swipe Your Credit Reward Points

A PLOT TO kill credit card reward points has bipartisan buy-in, with lawmakers framing the effort as an attempt to curb stillstubborn inflation.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2024
Regulators Killed a Lifeline for Roombas
Reason magazine

Regulators Killed a Lifeline for Roombas

IN JANUARY 2024, Amazon terminated its agreement to acquire iRobot, the company that manufactures the Roomba robot vacuum.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2024