This is part of a series of weekly posts with the most interesting content from the Open Borders Action Group on Facebook. Do join the group to weigh in on existing discussions or start your own (you might want to read this post before joining).
Artistic and literary depictions
- Post by Vipul Naik linking to Chapter 102 of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky, that makes a tangential reference to discrimination against foreigners and migration restrictions. 3 likes, 2 comments.
General points related to migration and public opinion about migration
- Post by John Lee, July 27, 2014, asking for the simplest and most straightforward way to address the objection “But you can’t have a nation without borders.” 5 likes, 17 comments.
- Post by Vipul Naik linking to It’s Complicated: 5 Puzzling International Borders by Haley Sweetland Edwards, Mental Floss, July 28, 2014.
- How can critics of open borders be encouraged to more explicitly lay out their cost-benefit analysis and/or full case rather than just be satisfied after finding one potential flaw or philosophical hole? by Vipul Naik, July 27, 2014. 7 likes, 20 comments.
- To what extent is people’s opposition to illegal immigration driven by disgust at the though of the physical act of illegal immigration, and to what extent is it driven by the belief that it is fairly easy to migrate legally? by John Lee, July 26, 2014. 1 like, 3 comments.
- What are some examples of changes to laws that, if you believed open borders would make likely, would lead you to oppose open borders? by Vipul Naik, July 25, 2014. 1 like, 3 comments.
- Post by John Lee on historical migration flows, July 24, 2014. Source: EMIG dataset. 4 likes, 3 comments.
- Under what conditions would you support open or near-open borders? by Johnny Roccia, July 22, 2014, posed as a question to open borders advocates to attempt to answer as if they were restrictionists. The post was part of an attempt to prepare an ideological Turing test. 3 likes, 8 comments.
Opinions of others about migration: specific observations (including links to videos, debates)
- Post by Akiva Malamet, July 26, 2014, linking to Should We Welcome Open Borders?, a Foundation for Economic Education debate video between Jason Brennan and David Inserra, July 20, 2014.
- Post by Vipul Naik, July 27, 2014, linking to a YouTube video from 1980 where Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush discuss illegal immigration, and argue in favor of freer migration between the United States and Mexico. 10 likes, 3 comments. Also reblogged by Fabio Rojas here.
- Post by John Lee, July 26, 2014, linking to and quoting from People Flows in Globalization by Richard Freeman, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20 (2), pages 145-170. 5 likes, 10 comments.
- Post by John Lee linking to Nick Rowe on fiscal policy (and reply to Caplan) by Scott Sumner, EconLog, July 24, 2014, where he discusses some of his concerns related to migration. 2 likes, 2 comments.
- Post by John Lee, July 25, 2014, linking to a discussion of pieces in the 1970s in Reason Magazine that defended apartheid as the lesser evil relative to communism. 1 like, 5 comments.
- Post by Samuel Wilson, July 25, 2014, linking to his blog post Sumner’s Switzerland, July 25, 2014. 2 likes.
- Post by Brian W. Ryman about the views of the United States Founders on migration. 1 like, 3 comments.
- Post by John Lee linking to a critique of citizenism: Xenophobia and Politics by Steven E. Landsburg, Forbes, March 28, 2005. 4 likes, 1 comment
Specific current and historical situations
- Post by Vipul Naik linking to Obama Eyes Major Immigration Move by Alex Altman, Time Magazine, July 24, 2014. 1 like, 4 comments.
- Post by John Lee, July 24, 2014, linking to the paper Immigration Policy and Macroeconomic Performances in France by Hippolyte d’Albis and Ekrame Boubtane and Dramane Coulibaly, October 16, 2013. 5 likes.
- Post by John Lee, July 23, 2014, linking to Migration controls need to be liberalised by the Centre for Development and Enterprise, July 16, 1997. 6 likes.