

The secret to fighting poverty is New Zealand - cwan
http://aidwatchers.com/2010/12/the-secret-to-fighting-poverty-is-new-zealand/

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poet
A direct link to the blog post:
[http://blogs.worldbank.org/allaboutfinance/the-most-
effectiv...](http://blogs.worldbank.org/allaboutfinance/the-most-effective-
development-intervention-we-have-evidence-for). It's a lot more balanced than
the repost linked in the submission. For example: "Such gains do not come
automatically. The latest Nobel prize in economics was for work on the process
of job search and matching in labor markets. While these are difficult enough
for workers in the same economy, matching the supply of willing workers to the
demands of employers becomes even more difficult when the process takes place
across borders."

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iwr
In short: make life easy for skilled migrants and your economy will do good.

I'll say it's simpler than that: make sure immigrants get to sustain
themselves through work rather than welfare. This creates a direct incentive
for them to learn the language and actually integrate into the new society.

The great problem Europe has with migrants is not the inherent "poor imported
stock", but the lean welfare rules and strict employment rules. This ensures a
toxic proportion of new arrivals simply don't want to or can't integrate. It
also means you get second-generation immigrants with no better prospects than
their parents.

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bmcleod
This particular piece isn't so much dealing with skilled migrants as it is
with migrants who are willing and able to work and can do something as they're
seasonal workers who normally come to work in orchards etc.

New Zealand has a significant advantage in that case where the people coming
in on this program are islanders with a strong cultural imperative to work
hard and send money home to their families.

Your points are good ones, they just don't really mirror what's actually
happening in this case.

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barrydahlberg
If anything I would expect a highly skilled worker (doctor, programmer etc) to
be taking an income loss coming here.

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pygy_
The same goes for Europe, at least for immigrant doctors, who are considered
under-skilled and must go back to University at first to get an equivalent
diploma...

Also, the medical profession has lost a lot of its prestige here (In Belgium,
at least).

From what I heard from colleagues coming from less developed nations, they
were more respected in their country of origin than local, established doctors
are here.

Due to latent (or sometimes overt) racism, foreign doctor are even less
considered, and have thus a harder time earning money.

Even if their net income increases, on a relative scale they lose a lot and
happiness is a function of how rich you are relative to your peers.

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maxklein
This post is difficult to understand. From my understand, correct me if I am
wrong, New Zealand is providing aid by allowing Tongan workers come work for a
season, then return home. This leads to a marked improvement in the lives of
those who are allowed to migrate to work. Is that right?

~~~
nl
Yes

It also leads to an improvement in the conditions of the home country.

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nl
People in Australia may be interested to know that many Pacific nations have
repeatedly asked Australia to setup a similar program, and these request have
been strongly supported by groups like the National Farmers Federation (who
currently have to rely primarily on British pack-packers to pick a lot of
produce)

The response to these requests has been negative so far.

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ra
_The response to these requests has been negative so far._

i.e. "stop the boats"

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brc
A very misleading headline if you ask me. Of course taking someone out of a
third world economy and putting them in a country with a stable government and
employment possibilities is going to improve their lot.

It's not very scalable, though. You can't import a whole nation into another.
And it only measures monetary benefits. Is there an increase in native New
Zealanders unemployment? Is there an increase in rents? Is there an increase
in family breakdown for the ones who are seasonally migrating?

Immigration issues are rarely one dimensional.

~~~
nl
Q: _Is there an increase in native New Zealanders unemployment?_ A: these
gains came with minimal displacement of native workers

The original article deals with some more of your objections.

 _Immigration issues are rarely one dimensional._ True - in this case it does
seem pretty beneficial.

