Thomas Sowell

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Thomas Sowell (website, Wikipedia page) is a wide-ranging researcher and writer on economic and social issues. Sowell’s views on migration appear to have evolved in a more anti-migration direction over time.

Sowell’s research on migration

Sowell studied migration around the world and its effect on culture. Some of the pages on the site are based on data collated by Sowell.

Sowell’s praise of Julian Simon

Sowell has written favorably about Julian Simon, author of The Ultimate Resource. Sowell praised Simon’s insights on population and Simon’s research conclusions that the world was not running out of resources. Simon also used this reasoning to make the case that freer migration could be beneficial in a wide range of circumstances, both to migrants and the countries receiving the migrants. Although Simon wasn’t quite pro-open borders, he came fairly close, and Sowell greatly admired Simon.

Recent writings critical of immigration

In recent years, however, Sowell has written a number of anti-immigration pieces. Some of these pieces, and pages on the site referring to them, are listed below:

Critiques of Sowell’s anti-immigration arguments

"The Efficient, Egalitarian, Libertarian, Utilitarian Way to Double World GDP" — Bryan Caplan