Thursday, January 16, 2020

Opening Up

Having grown up in Apartheid South Africa, I am a supporter of the Four Freedoms of Movement – Goods, Capital, Services, and Labour. Wealth compounds over the very long term. The marginal contribution is amplified or muted by what came before. A lottery of birth shouldn’t determine the impact of our effort. I believe in “Open Borders” (See the book by Caplan and Weinersmith) but ironically/hypocritically (?) came to the UK on a Highly Skilled Migrant Program that allowed me to arrive without a job offer. This opportunity wasn’t (and isn’t) open to everyone. I got a job offer before moving, but didn’t like the idea of being tied to a company. Still, I went through the process and now hold two passports. Two of the things I don’t believe in. Caplan calls this a “keyhole solution”. Better than closed borders by targeting the specific objections as narrowly as possible. Typical keyhole solutions include immigration tariffs, guest worker programs, and linguistic and cultural fluency requirements.


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