As part of an online back in forth on Google+, after a person claimed that US immigration ruined developing economies, I collected bits of useful information regarding the effect of emigration on the sending country. I used fairly open search terms, emigration effects, and although there were studies that were mixed about emigration, they were few, and one of those is not a study. One idea I've read, although did not find corroborating evidence of, stated that the drive to emigrate drove up the capabilities of the people left behind. Yes, developed countries often take the best of the developing world, but the drive to emigrate focuses many on education, so the ones left behind, and the country they inhabit, are better off. As an example, if you have 100 people in a country, and you have a system that says 10 can leave that score highest on an exam. Sixty (60) try to raise themselves by studying. At the end, 10 leave, leaving 50 more educated than when they started. So yes, the 1
musings on life and liberty