Current Events > "Do passports restrict economic growth?"

(+) Yeah! (+)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40188997

Interesting article.

Economically, I'm sure there would be benefits as labor, trade, capital, etc. are more easily able to flow where they are needed with minimal barriers. The economy would potetntially expand with increased demand, more people to set up businesses, workers with skills that the natives lack, etc. That's the thinking behind the EU's freedom of movement it seems.

Obviously the flip side to that would be whether there would be downward pressure on wages, pressure on public services, increased unemployment among the natives, etc. On the first one, there was some evidence that wages in the UK in recent years mostly benefited from immigration (with a minimal reduction for lower skilled workers). The second one seems to be a bit of a no-brainer. On the third, I'm not sure. There is the "Lump of Labor" fallacy, but that doesn't necessarily disprove the effect.

With the intense debate around immigration these days, it will seem like madness to many people, but it wasn't *that* long ago that you could move freely between many countries. According to the article, "By the turn of the 20th Century, only a handful of countries still insisted on passports to enter or leave. It seemed possible they might soon disappear altogether." Then two World Wars happened.

I think it's a great shame that things have changed so much in that regard. Being able to freely move between countries is a great freedom to have. Unfortunately, there are those that seek to do us harm and they'd love nothing more than to exploit this freedom. It's impossible to say how big this danger really is (in the west at least), but certainly, it seems that most people nowadays fear it, hence Trump's immigration ban, Brexit, etc. Many people that once benefited from open borders would now deny people the opportunity to do so, rightly or wrongly.