An authoritative and myth-busting analysis that tells us why we're wrong about migration.
How Migration Really Works
A Factful Guide to the Most Divisive Issue in Politics
by Hein de Haas
Hardback / 9 November 2023 / Penguin - Viking / £25
What are we getting so wrong about migration – and why?
Are borders beyond control after being deluged by desperate people in small boats? Are immigrants taking jobs away from native workers? Or do we badly need immigrants to boost economic growth and innovation? As debates on migration have reached fever pitch, so has political and media fearmongering, but what are the facts behind the headlines?
In this ground-breaking and revelatory book, based on over three decades of research, Professor Hein de Haas explodes the myths that politicians, interest groups and media regularly spread about migration. Draining the vitriol from a debate that has poisoned politics for decades, Hein de Haas shows us that global migration is not at an all-time high; climate change will not lead to mass migration; immigration mainly benefits the already wealthy, not workers; and border restrictions have paradoxically produced more migration.
Comparing trends and perspectives from Western ‘destination countries’ (the United Kingdom, United States and in Europe) as well as ‘origin countries’ in Asia and Africa, de Haas equips readers with essential knowledge on migration based on the best evidence and data, enabling us to have better and more informed conversations about the most hot-button issue in politics.
Above all, How Migration Really Works offers a new vision of migration based on facts rather than fears, and a paradigm-altering understanding of this perennially important subject.
ABOUT Hein de Haas
Hein de Haas is Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Maastricht. He formerly taught at the University of Oxford, where he co-founded and co-directed the International Migration Institute (IMI). One of the world’s top migration scholars, he continues to direct IMI from its current home at UvA. He is the lead author of The Age of Migration, a seminal textbook in the field of migration studies. He lives in Amsterdam.
'‘A careful, balanced, and convincing take on one of the most divisive issues of our age. Backed by masses of data, Hein de Haas challenges much of what we think is obvious about migration, systematically busting myths and exposing propaganda from all across the political spectrum’
Ian Morris, author of Why The West Rules – For Now
‘Compelling…it engages with the arguments behind the myths…How Migration Really Works ultimately uses its convincing research to ask us to worry less about migration. In doing so, it instead alights upon global inequality as the true cause for concern.’
The World Today, Chatham House
TOP SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT MIGRATION
1) International migrants only make up 3% of the global population, and refugees represent 5-10% of this number – much smaller than we are led to believe by the media and politicians.
2) Instead of a ‘desperate flight from misery’, migration is generally a deliberate and rational investment in the long-term well-being of families.
3) Labour demand, not inequality or poverty, is the root cause of migration. While wage gaps often motivate people to migrate, most migrants would have stayed home without concrete job opportunities.
4) Rather than taking jobs from native workers, migrants fill vacancies for which not enough local workers are available.
5) The lack of affordable housing, substandard schooling and healthcare are not caused by immigration, but by policies to roll back the welfare state and to defund and privatize government services.
6) There is no evidence that immigration leads to more crime. In fact, crime rates have dropped as immigration has increased. Immigrants – legal and illegal – tend to be equally or less criminal than native-born people.
7) Claims that migration ‘lifts all boats’ reflect elite views and corporate agendas, and conceal the fact that migration mainly benefits the already privileged. Although it is a myth that foreign workers steal jobs or undercut wages, native workers barely reap any economic benefits from immigration.
8) It is an illusion that immigration can reignite growth and innovation in stagnating economies, as high immigration is the result, rather than the cause of, economic success.
9) While measures such as border walls help to create an appearance of control, extraordinarily low levels of labour enforcement prove that politicians are, in practice, willing turn a blind eye towards employment of illegal migrants.
10) There is no left-right divide in immigration policy making. The issue divides political parties internally. On average, right-wing governments do not adopt more restrictive immigration policies compared to left-wing governments.
11) Although inflammatory rhetoric by politicians can embolden nativist groups and racist violence, there is no evidence that public opinion has generally turned against immigration.
12) Smuggling is a reaction to border controls, not the cause of illegal migration. Smugglers deliver a service that migrants are willing to pay for, so that they can cross borders without being caught by abusive state agents, border guards or criminals.
13) Migrant workers mislabelled as trafficking victims resist being ‘rescued’ as this usually implies deportation and loss of income. By criminalizing precarious work but failing to stop abusive employers, anti-trafficking policies have made workers more vulnerable, perpetuating a vicious cycle of abuse, exploitation and stigmatization.
14) Ill-conceived immigration restrictions often backfire by paradoxically producing more migration. The effectiveness of border restrictions is also undermined by pre-emptive ‘now or never’ migration surges.
15) Apocalyptic forecasts of massive South-North climate migration lack any scientific basis. They ignore evidence that most displacement in response to floods, droughts and hurricanes is short-distance and temporary, and that vulnerable populations lack the resources to move over long distances.
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