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37 Cato J. 523 (2017)
Economic Freedom and Mass Migration: Evidence from Israel

handle is hein.journals/catoj37 and id is 564 raw text is: ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND MASS MIGRATION: EVIDENCE FROM ISRAEL Benjamin Powell The economic case for free immigration is nearly identical to the case for free trade. They both rely on a greater division of labor based on comparative advantage to ensure that allowing the free movement of goods and services or the free movement of people results in greater global wealth. Estimates of the global gains that could be achieved by the global adoption of an open immigration policy are massive, ranging from 50 to 150 percent of world GDP (Clemens 2011). Even a migration of just 5 percent of the world's poor to wealthier countries would boost world GDP by more than could be gained by completely eliminating all remaining trade barriers to goods, services, and capital flows (Clemens 2011). How Free Immigration Could Impact Institutions and Culture The case for free immigration is more complicated than the basic economic case for free trade because immigrants, unlike goods, can impact host countries' institutions and culture. Immigrants can protest, agitate for political change, promote ideas that can change native-born citizens' thinking, and, in some cases, participate directly Cato journal, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Fall 2017). Copyright @ Cato Institute. All rights reserved. Benjamin Powell is Director of the Free Market Institute and Professor of Economics in the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business Administration at Texas Tech University. This article is loosely based on a portion of a forthcoming Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization article co-authored with J. R. Clark and Alex Nowrasteh. 523