Do Open Borders Make Sense?

the AZEL PERSPECTIVE Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 379 B

José Azel's latest books "On Freedom" and "Sobre La Libertad" are now available on Amazon.  Do Open Borders Make Sense? (Previously published) Share Tweet Forward

While I am personally uncomfortable with the idea of open borders, the topic is worth studying as economist Bryan Caplan does in Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration. Caplan’s argument is categorical: “Opening all borders would usher in a booming global economy practically eliminating poverty worldwide and ultimately benefiting all humanity.” He calculates that when the average third-world worker moves to a country like the United States, that worker’s productivity increases by 400 percent. The poorer the country of origin, the greater the productivity gains. Caplan’s point is that the same workers are more productive in the United States than in Nigeria or Haiti. In other words, the earnings gap results not from who you are, but from where you are.  Caplan is a meticulous scholar, and he has crunched the numbers to address the various objections to open immigration. He acknowledges the risks associated with open borders but, given that World Gross Product would double if anyone could take a job anywhere, the downside risks of open borders would have to be astronomical for the cost to outweigh its benefits.  When it comes to supply and demand, we understand intuitively the supply-side effect of immigrants such as an increase of immigrant workers that drives down wages. Yet, we fail to see the demand-side of immigrants as consumers. When selling our labor, immigrants that sell the same labor, may hurt us in the marketplace. But we are helped, in the same marketplace, by immigrants that buy the goods and services that we sell.  Also, by world standards, even low-skilled American workers are high-skilled. They are literate, fluid in English, and familiar with the modern world. Therefore, low-skilled American workers often end up training and managing new arrivals, not competing with them. Think for instance of jobs in the construction industry.  Immigration opponents claim that immigrants lower our country’s average standard of living. This is technically true, but it is a meaningless statistic. Say that the average standard of living in  the United States and in a foreign country is measured by average incomes of $50,000 and $5,000 respectively. This yields a combined World Gross Product of $55,000. If under open borders the foreigner chooses to work in the U.S for $20,000, their combined World Gross Product rises to $70,000. Humanity is enriched.  Notice, however, that although the average native worker in the U.S. is still making $50,000, the average income in the United States is now lower at $35,000 ($50,000 + $20,000 / 2). Yes, the immigrant’s arrival has lowered the statistical average income, but his income, and the income of the world, has increased at no cost to the native worker. Admittedly this is a simplistic illustration, over time the supply of lower cost labor could bring down the income of that native worker. The point is simply that the often-cited statistics need scrutiny.  Another objection to immigration is the fiscal burden that it imposes on government services. But many government services are what economists call “non-rival” services: services where the total cost of the services stays the same even as population increases. National defense is the classic example of a “non-rival” service that does not increase in cost due to population growth.  Of the remaining “rival spending” on government services, over two thirds is for the very young and the very old. Professor Caplan’s work shows that most immigrants are of working age, neither very young nor very old. Rather than a fiscal burden, working age immigrants mostly contribute thru taxation to programs for the young and the old. A report by the National Academy of Science concludes that the overall long-term fiscal effect of a new immigrant is a positive $259,000. Unless immigrants are old and low skilled, they more than pay for themselves.  Caplan numerically addresses other objections to unlimited immigration such as criminality, terrorism, political ideology, cultural dilution and more. And yet, I remain uncomfortable with the idea of open borders. But now, I am even more uncomfortable because I do not know why I remain uncomfortable.  Please let us know if you  this article. We welcome your feedback. Abrazos, Lily & José (click on the name to email Lily or Jose) José Azel, Ph.D. José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.   He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies. Dr. Azel was a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami, Jose Azel has published extensively on Cuba related topics. In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security.  He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media.  He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami. José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers.  In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru.  They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp. They cycled St. James Way (El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary and throughout southern France.  They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast and in the Galapagos Islands. Most recently, they rafted for 17 days 220 miles in the Grand Canyon.  Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them.  Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro. Books by Dr. José Azel José Azel’s writings are touched with the wisdom of a master, and the charm of an excellent communicator. Anyone who wishes to understand why countries do, or do not, progress will find in this book the best explanations. And, from these readings emerge numerous inferences: How and why do the good intentions of leftist collectivism lead countries to hell? Why is liberty not a sub product of prosperity, but rather one of its causes? If it was in my power, this work would be required reading for all college and university students, and I would also recommend its reading to all politicians, journalists, and policymakers. With his writings Azel accomplishes what was achieved in France by Frédéric Bastiat, and in the United States by Henry Hazlitt: Azel brings together common sense with intelligent observation, and academic substance. Stupendous, Carlos Alberto Montaner                                                                    BUY NOW Los escritos de José Azel están tocados por la sabiduría de un maestro y la amenidad de un excelente comunicador. Cualquiera que desee entender por qué los países progresan, o no, encontrará en este libro las mejores explicaciones. De estas lecturas surgen numerosas inferencias: ¿Cómo y por qué las buenas intenciones del colectivismo de izquierda llevan a los países al infierno? ¿Por qué la libertad no es un subproducto de la prosperidad, sino una de sus causas? Si estuviera en mis manos, esta obra sería de obligada lectura de todos los estudiantes universitarios, pero además, le recomendaría su lectura a todos los políticos, periodistas y policy makers. Con sus escritos Azel logra lo que Frédéric Bastiat consiguiera en Francia y Henry Hazlitt en Estados Unidos: aunar el sentido común, la observación inteligente y la enjundia académica. Estupendo. Carlos Alberto Montaner                                                            Compre Aqui "Liberty for beginners is much more than what the title promises. It is eighty themes touched with the wisdom of a master, and the charm of an excellent communicator. Anyone that wishes to understand why countries do, or do not progress, will find in this book the best explanations. Stupendous" Carlos Alberto Montaner Buy Now "Libertad para novatos es mucho más de lo que promete el título. Son ochenta temas tocados con la sabiduría de un maestro y la amenidad de un excelente comunicador. Cualquier adulto que desee saber por qué progresan o se estancan los pueblos aquí encontrará las mejores explicaciones. Estupendo." Carlos Alberto Montaner Compre Aqui In Reflections on Freedom, José Azel brings together a collection of his columns published in prestigious newspapers.  Each article reveals his heartfelt and personal awareness of the importance of freedom in our lives.  They are his reflections after nearly sixty years of living and learning as a Cuban outside Cuba. In what has become his stylistic trademark, Professor Azel brilliantly introduces complex topics in brief journalistic articles. Buy Now En Reflexiones sobre la libertad José Azel reúne una colección de sus columnas publicadas en prestigiosos periódicos. Cada artículo revela su percepción sincera y personal de la importancia de la libertad en nuestras vidas. Son sus reflexiones después de casi sesenta años viviendo y aprendiendo como cubano fuera de Cuba.  En lo que ha resultado ser característica distintiva de sus artículos, el Profesor Azel introduce con brillantez complejos temas en  breves artículos de carácter periodístico. Compre Aqui Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future. Buy now Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish. Buy now

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