Category Immigration
Open borders for land too?
[I am trying to explain what I think is a conceptual confusion by the "Open Borders" people. Unfortunately, my brain isn't very clear either.] Land can't move, of course. But borders can. We can't move land across the borders, but we can move borders across the land. So if half the people in country B […]
Countries as homes
I was up late last night for the results of the EU elections. In the UK, the UK Independence Party came first with 27.5% of the vote (Labour second with 25.5% and Conservatives third with 24%). In France, the Front National came first with 25%. Both UKIP and the FN want to withdraw from the […]
Foreign Remittances, Immigration and Economic Development
In Europe, immigrants from developing countries come in to work and then often send back money to families. There are also alot of foreign workers in the higher income countries in Asia and the Middle East. According to a World Bank Report, the developing world is expected to receive $414 billion in migrant remittances in […]
Migration and Population Size
There was a recent piece in the New York Times on Italy’s economic situation and how its high unemployment rate and stagnant economy appears to have led to a return of Italian emigration. This story struck a personal chord given my own parents came to Canada during the post World War Two wave of immigration. […]
If Canada used American racial categories…
The US Census Bureau counts people by race: white, black, Asian, and so on. Statistics Canada counts people by "visible minority status" – we don't like to mention words like "race" or "white" up here. The other day I found myself wondering – if Canada used American racial categories, how would the demographics of the […]
Visible minorities: Distinctly Canadian
As far as I know, Canada is the only country that divides its population into "visible minorities" and "non-visible minorities." In this post, I describe how, and why, Canada counts people this way. A person's visible minority status is ascertained by asking: "Is this person….White, South Asian (e.g., East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, etc.), Chinese, Black, […]
Canada: No country for old men (or women)
The Canadian population is aging, and getting old sucks – for economies, as well as for people. There is nothing that can stop an individual from aging. Not face cream. Not hot yoga.
Why I don’t recognize your foreign educational credentials
The Canadian immigration literature seems to regard employers with a hint of disapproval. For example, a recent survey talks about "the failure to recognize foreign credentials" as if employers and others are, for some unaccountable reason, not able to recognize a credential when it's staring them in the face. I've just spent the last couple of hours trying to […]
How not to evaluate immigration policy
The Fraser Institute has released a study on immigration policy, but there's not much point in telling you its conclusions: the questions they ask are not worth answering.
The echoes of internment
The internment of Japanese-Canadians during the second World War was one of the less noble points in Canadian history. But this post is not about guilt or shame. Economists are increasingly aware that history matters. A recent survey by the Harvard-based Canadian economist Nathan Nunn describes how decisions made centuries ago – for example, the types of […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments