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We readily acknowledge the benefits of tearing down all the barriers for capital to move between countries, but the ones for humans seem to be sticky.
by RodericDay 12y ago
We readily acknowledge the benefits of tearing down all the barriers for capital to move between countries, but the ones for humans seem to be sticky.
- cbd1984 12y agoCapital can't come bringing ebola or polio.
- jfoutz 12y agoI don't understand your point. Didn't capital come with smallpox? Capital intensive processes always come with unknowable risk. Coal power means coal mines, which for some people means black lung. Air travel means death by plane crashes. High voltage power lines mean death by electrocution. Overall, we're better off - but it's silly to claim capital infusion is automagically harmless. Again, perhaps this isn't the argument you're making. Could you elaborate a bit on what you mean?
- cbd1984 12y agoMy point is, foreign investment can't make you sick, at least not directly. People, on the other hand, can.
- dragonwriter 12y ago> We readily acknowledge the benefits of tearing down all the barriers for capital to move between countries, but the ones for humans seem to be sticky. That's because the same interests that support free movement of capital are served by limited mobility for persons (in the both roles as "consumer" and as "labor"), and those interests are disproportionately powerful in their influence over policy (and the discussions of policy issues in the mass media.)