> Because I believe morally the correct thing to do is not the thing that reduces poverty quickest in the short term, but reduces it the most in the long term.

> Because I believe morally the correct thing to do is not the thing that reduces poverty quickest in the short term, but reduces it the most in the long term. I completely agree with this. It's my take on the evidence that immigrants tend to have little effect on wages of native workers on average (except possibly at the bottom of the education distribution), and huge benefits for the immigrants themselves. (As you say, economics is not zero-sum). You just hear more from the small concentrated group of people who are displaced than you do from the large diffuse group who have new customers. In the other direction, if "brain drain" from poor countries to rich countries was keeping the former poor, then restrictions might be justified to keep skilled workers from leaving. But no one seems to really believe this: restrictions are almost always on immigration, not on emigration. > Altering major aspects of that system should not be taken lightly Absolutely. I don't advocate totally open borders tomorrow, but it seems to me that they could be much more open than they currently are without any drastic consequences.