Immigration Is Fundamental to Ending Poverty

Chapter 4 MIGRATION IS FUNDAMENTAL TO ENDING POVERTY. October 31, 2010 By some estimates, there are approximately 12 million people here in this country illegally. Many of them have come here at great risk to their lives and at great cost. They did it to provide for themselves and their families. This is economic migration. It has been going on since the beginning of time. Nomads moved, not to see the sights, but to survive. Our country is populated by people from around the world. They came here for thousands of reasons but mostly to “work” or “seek their fortune.” Plenty left their homes and their families because there was no work. Others left because of famines, natural disasters, wars, oppressive governments and discrimination. Economic migration is an essential part of life itself. People move to improve themselves or find a better life. It is one of the fundamental methods humans use to end their poverty. The economics of migration demonstrates that the freedom to travel helps both migrants and natives. Economists have long since known that free trade of goods throughout the world benefits both sides of each transaction. The exact same theory applies to the movement of labor in the world. Studies by Bob Hamilton and John Whalley estimate that gains from the international free movement of labor would “more than double worldwide real income...”1 Everyone benefits from such increased incomes. The free movement of labor within the United

IGCC Working Paper: The Economic Case for Liberalized Immigration by Howard F. Chang. April 4, 1998. Page 3. 1

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States has been economically beneficial to all. The 19th and 20th centuries brought mass migration of rural workers to cities as farming technology changed. Just imagine the level of rural poverty if each state had prevented the free movement of labor. It is explicitly recognized by the European Union that people must be able to move freely among the various member countries for the purpose of employment. If