Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions

by Alex Nowrasteh, Benjamin Powell

"This chapter makes the standard economic case for free immigration. It outlines the massive global gains in output that eliminating immigration restrictions could create. It reviews the increased earnings and productivity of people based on place specific productivity, it reviews the evidence of the impact of immigraiton on jobs, wages, and fiscal deficits in destination countries"--

Genres: Politics, Economics, Nonfiction, Immigration

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 17, 2020

Reviews

[Sabine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having now finished reading Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions by Alex Nowrasteh and Benjamin Powell, I can confidently say that it might be one of the most devastating pieces of work debunking anti-immigrant arguments in a very long time. I highly recommend you buy a copy, I'll be using it a lot in in my own immigration research and writing in the future. Every imaginable problem someone might have against economic immigration has an excellent, quantitative response that is thoroughly researched and backed up, while being very generous to the arguments of the 'New Economic Case for Immigration Restrictions' and making sure they properly address all related issues.
The case studies at the end of the book offer an excellent look into the potential of opening up immigration by using Israel and Jordan as examples, and it's rare to see such a good overview of the political situations of both countries in relation to immigration. It left me with so many other potential research questions that now spring up from the evidence presented by the authors. I hope someone goes ahead and writes more on this.
I'd also love to see more qualitative work done on the subject of the benefits of economic immigration in the same way Nowrasteh and Powell tackled the economic/quantitative arguments. I hope this book encourages more work on this.

[Surafel Geleta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dismantles a lot of myths generated by anti-immigration activists and politicians, recommend especially nowadays with the deportation policies of the current Trump admin

[Jet R · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars because honestly this type of work is not my field of expertise 🙂

But very very well articulated economics research on migration. Written very academic and uses and SHOWS their research that is being done. Took some time for me to understand since I’m not in this research field but they really do their best to make it as clear as possible. It is no bullsh*t research, very well done.

Many topics are covered, including migration effecting terrorism or corruption in host countries. Includes many interesting case studies.

Authors are also highly aware of the heated debate around the topic and that some of the studies, especially the case studies, have to be interpreted with caution.

[Denise Hurd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book for my Econ book colloquium. Very good information but a lot of numbers and data which made it a bit harder to consume, especially because it was generally just reinforcing ideals that I already have. That being said everyone who believes we need to continue to greatly limit immigration should absolutely read this book, especially if they are strong believers in capitalism. I think it makes an amazing argument that our country could really benefit from seeing right now.

[Matthew Adelstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very convincing defense of immigration from fears that it erodes institutions.