The case for and against open borders

The Weeds

Dylan, German, and Jerusalem get together to discuss one of the world’s least likely but most interesting utopian ideas: open borders. They discuss the moral and economic logic for making it easy to move to and work in different countries, and the political constraints that make such an idea anathema in most rich countries. Also, they discuss a new paper about how housing regulation is making it hard for Americans to move to where they’d get the best jobs.

References:

Bryan Caplan’s case for open borders, on Vox and in comic book form

Matt Yglesias’s case for more immigration

Michael Clemens’s economic case for broader migration

A review of the evidence on voter backlash to immigration

Angela Nagle’s leftist case against open borders

Arlie Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land

Jerusalem on the intersection of refugee policy and housing policy

”Angela Merkel Was Right” by NYT's Michelle Goldberg

“Does Immigration Produce a Public Backlash or Public Acceptance? Time-Series, Cross-Sectional Evidence from Thirty European Democracies”

White Paper: “Location, Location, Location” by David Card, Jesse Rothstein, and Moises Yi

Hosts:

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

German Lopez (@germanrlopez), senior correspondent, Vox

Jerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer & engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial advisor

Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

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