
Some Countries See Migrants as an Economic Boon, Not a Burden - dsr12
http://www.wsj.com/articles/some-countries-see-migrants-as-an-economic-boon-not-a-burden-1450881706
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hbogert
If you want to say that you're[Canada] doing a better job than Europe, please
prove, or at least make likely, that the Canadian migrants are similar to the
migrants in Europe.

The article also doesn't define the relation between migrant and refugee. If
you're cherrypicking migrants, which I believe Canada is doing, you'll have a
easier job at integration.

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jobu
There's also some self-selection for highly motivated individuals moving all
the way to Canada. And a person that can afford to move that far is going to
have a better starting point than most of the people walking or floating into
the EU.

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datalist
How many migrants from the current events are in Canada?

According to [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/syrian-refugees-canada-
united-...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/syrian-refugees-canada-united-
states-comparison-1.3340852) Canada pledged to "welcome" 25,000 by next year.
That's almost as many as crossed the borders to Europe only within a few days.

As the title says "Canada focuses on assimilating educated foreigners who fill
job needs, in sharp contrast to Europe", so basically cherry picking like
hbogert said. In this case it is easy to assimilate and integrate. Try the
same with hordes of "less educated foreigners".

If we draw comparisons then please not apples to oranges.

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seivan
From my experience education doesn't dictate how well they integrate, culture
does. Obviously anecdotal but I know doctors that feel like apostates should
hang. They may pay their taxes but in long run its a loss for the host nation.

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seivan
Maybe stop seeing migrants and refugees in general as homogenous group.

Some will not integrate and has other purposes than to flee either war or
poverty. Some do it unconsciously. Either way I wouldn't say immigration from
certain cultures has served Scandinavia well. I'm from one of them that's been
a huge burden. The future looks bleak, for everyone involved. Worse for those
stranded between Islamists and Assad l obviously.

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goodcanadian
I have mixed feelings about this article. On the one hand, I accept that
Canadian immigration policy is among the best in the world. Further, Canada is
more accepting of immigrants than many countries, perhaps because we have had
better experiences with them, or perhaps just because of general cultural
attitudes.

However, it confuses the issue to bring in the recent refugee crisis in
Europe. As several other commenters have pointed out, accepting 25,000 hand
picked Syrian refugees, while laudable, is on a completely different scale
than 1,000,000 refugees of random backgrounds flooding across the border.

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awl130
it's colder and more isolated in canada and fewer people want to live there.
same for scandinavia. hence state-sponsored incentives in addition to market-
driven ones. it is the economics of supply/demand that drive culture (state-
sponsored and otherwise), not the other way around. we know this from states
in the usa. north dakota pays farm workers higher than california. should we
conclude that n. dakota is culturally more accepting than california? we over-
attribute these kinds of effects to cultural norms.

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Moshe_Silnorin
We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities:
[http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/07/we-wrestle-not-with-
fle...](http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/07/we-wrestle-not-with-flesh-and-
blood-but-against-powers-and-principalities/)

~~~
vmorgulis
"But the puppetry expands past individuals toward whole empires and movements.
If God reached into the year 1900 and removed every single Communist, and
every Communist book, and erased all memory of Communism, I think it would
take about five minutes before someone reinvented something much like the
movement, because there were a bunch of very poor people who felt desperate
and cheated crammed up against a bunch of very rich people who weren’t afraid
to flaunt their wealth. The new movement might have differed from Communism in
minor details – maybe their color would have been blue instead of red – but it
wouldn’t be hard to identify."

I think it's green...

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collyw
Fairly relevant:

[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/european-
immi...](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/european-immigrants-
contribute-5bn-to-uk-economy-but-non-eu-migrants-cost-118bn-9840170.html)

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gedy
WSJ is a big proponent of cheap labor, which open borders and loose
immigration helps. (Pointing this out is not somehow anti-immigrant BTW)

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dominotw
so, whats your solution? Place minimum income restrictions on immigrants ?

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skylan_q
One idea: that they bring capital with them.

Increasing the supply of labor while not increasing the supply of capital can
drive down productivity and wages in the nation getting migrants. If they come
with accompanying capital, it could help maintain or improve productivity.

