The thing that is missing from this discussion is an acknowledgment that there is no moral reason it should have to be better for people living in the US if borders were opened. People accidentally born in a rich country have no moral authority to that wealth. In fact, morally they should be doing whatever possible to balance the lives of those who were accidentally born in poor countries.
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So what? Whatâs the next step in your argument? We should all give up our extra money to those worse off than us? You first.
Are there any studies that give any kind of valid information on what happens with a completely open border? It would be nice to have some data to go along with all the feels in this threadâŚ
You have extra money?
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Iâm a 57 year old technology worker with no retirement, technically I have no extra money.
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Sounds like clovis wasnât asking you to send any money
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Micro has already posted a bunch of examples of historical open borders.
My point is this discussion is muddled because people keep mixing up what should be and what can be politically.
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He has posted historical anecdotes, is there any real studies being done?
I agree there is a lot of wishful thinking going on, there is tough row to hoe to get âimmigrants badâ off the podium of things we hold true in this society, which will need to happen before we could even start to talk about something within squinting distance of âopen borders.â
I recommend this as it has some good data
What can be politically seems much more important than what should be.
Thanks, I have a hard time with Freakonimics after If Books Could Kill did the original bookâŚ
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If books could kill is awful. You can safely ignore it. Neither of the hosts have any social science training at all.
That said the first Freakinomics book has lots of issues.
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same. killed it for me 
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I know we had this debate in the podcast thread but itâs odd how much stock some of you put in that show hosted by two guys with zero formal training in the subject when most of the point of the show is to find funny ways to make quips.
They also only target subjects they politically disagree with. Iâm not sure why this wouldnât put up any alarm bells as to accepting everything they say as true.
the quips made me like the book less, it ainât the end of the world.
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Agreed. Either way, the show I posted is the journalist interviewing people. Itâs doesnât even have the economist part of the duo. I think he is the one who gets most of the flack from opponents of his research methods. 
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We must have a whole lot of philosophy majors
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Are there a lot liberal leaning scammy self help books out there?
How hard is it to move to Rio right now?
Let me add some nuance to this.
I can imagine a scenario where families with more dependents would move.
I.e. friend of mine with a special needs child would definitely move to a country with free healthcare. But, they also have two working age adults, and another child about to hit university.
Whether these groups are a not contributor or withdrawer of a social safety net could go either way.