Accepting more refugees would be good for us too - Sam Bowman writes for City AM
Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institue Sam Bowman wrote an op-ed for City AM, arguing that accepting more refugees into the UK would not simply be the right thing to do, but would be good for the UK's economic prosperity as well.
Most people think that we have a duty to help refugees fleeing totalitarianism or war, wherever they come from.Our sense of duty, however, is tempered by concerns that taking too many refugees will harm us, or that some are merely economic migrants. But these costs are overstated.Though, in general, the evidence shows that immigrants are quite good for the countries they go to, asylum seekers and economic migrants from extremely poor countries are driven by what economists call “exogenous” factors that are not related to simple supply and demand.Because they are being “pushed” by war or poverty more than “pulled” by job opportunities, they might be less benign for the countries they go to. But we actually do have some evidence about how they affect natives.