Press/Media and External Coverage

This page includes a non-exhaustive list of prior coverage of Open Borders: The Case in the press and other notable outlets. All are welcome to contact us for media, press or other inquiries.

Links to the site as a whole

Coverage of launch (March 16, 2012)

The closest available site snapshot is for March 18, 2012.

Link Author, publisher, and date More information
Open Borders: The Website Bryan Caplan on EconLog (March 16, 2012) This was the first official announcement of the site launch. Caplan wrote: “The idea is to bring together the best philosophical and economic arguments for free migration, including a few by yours truly. (I’m honored to be quoted on the masthead). This is a perfect website for would-be debaters to hone their thinking on the most important issue of our time.”
arguments for open borders Fabio Rojas on orgtheory.net (March 18, 2012) Rojas wrote: “There is a new web site, Open Borders, that collects arguments for the view that people should freely move across borders in most cases. It just got started, but it has both empirical and philosophical arguments, as well as arguments from different political perspectives. One stop shopping for people who want to hear, or disagree with, the argument that freedom of movement is a basic human right.”
オープン・ボーダーズ (in Japanese: translates to Open Borders) March 24, 2012 In Japanese, translation not of sufficiently high quality to include. But basically, the author says that the moral arguments appeal the most to him/her, but the site has a variety of arguments.

Substantive coverage of the site content (post-launch)

Abrir las fronteras acabaría con la pobreza, afirma grupo de economistas (in Spanish)María Paz Salas for El Definido (May 9, 2013)Reviews the site content, providing a summary of the arguments for and against.

Link Author, publisher, and date More information
New Open Borders Website Expected Optimism (April 6, 2012 — closest site snapshot) Written about three weeks after the launch of the site, the blog post included the author’s impressions of how the Open Borders site looked at the time. Many of the specific criticisms and feedback may not be applicable to the site as it stands now.
If People Could Immigrate Anywhere, Would Poverty Be Eliminated? Some economists are pushing for “open borders” Shaun Raviv for The Atlantic (April 26, 2013 — closest site snapshot). A close look at the case for open borders and the people who have argued in favor of free migration, from a largely sympathetic perspective. Read the whole thing.
Zorgen open grenzen voor einde aan de armoede (in Dutch) on 360 Het Beste uit de Internationale Pers (April 29th, 2013)
Open Borders, el movimiento que abroga por la migración libre (in Spanish) David Moreno on Vertigo Politico (May 9th, 2013) Reviews the site contents and the referenced work of Michael Clemens and Lant Pritchett
Why Not Just Open the Borders? Joseph Mackin on 2paragraphs (May 14, 2013) Relevant quote: “But a growing segment of economists believe there are good reasons to simply open the borders with few restrictions. And by good they mean it’s a move that has both moral and practical value. Mathematician Vipul Naik, influential impresario of the open borders movement online, believes widespread adoption of the policy among the world’s nation states would, as economist Bryan Caplan states, “double the world’s GDP.””
What would happen if we opened all the world’s manmade borders? (Question 35) Vilna Treitler at Difference and Indifference (October 16, 2013) Relevant quote: “OpenBorders.com is an organization of advocates who support ceasing to carve up the planet and treat those who emerge from the wrong wombs on the wrong patches of dirt as if they do not belong on our patch. Their website is so smart! They have both pro-open and anti-open borders literature so you can hear both sides of the argument. The bloggers also provide reasoned refutations to the concerns of those who would worry about the end of the world as we know it if we shared the planet with other living beings instead of hoarding the earth and its resources to ourselves, and lived as if humans are each equally entitled to roam the planet as they may.”
The case for open borders Dylan Matthews interviewing Bryan Caplan for Vox.com, September 13, 2014 Although the interview is focused on Caplan’s formulation of the case, it is broadly consistent with the structure of the case made on the site. Matthews mentions the website twice, and links to it elsewhere in the article. Mentions: “But in recent years, a small but devoted group of advocates have succeeded in turning open borders from a dirty word to a real movement with strong arguments backing it up. The team at OpenBorders.info — Vipul Naik, John Lee, Nathan Smith, Paul Crider — deserves a lot of credit here, as Shaun Raviv wrote in an excellent profile of the group in the Atlantic.” Concluding sentence: “Also be sure to read Caplan’s blog, as well as OpenBorders.info, for more on the issue.”

Links with brief mentions of the site

Forum discussions and comments linking to the site

Links to individual pages and blog posts on the site

Links that quote excerpts from and/or address substantively the statements made in those pages

Linking post or article Author, publisher, and date Linked post or page
Vipul Naik’s Analysis of the Open Borders Persuasion Bleg Bryan Caplan on EconLog, October 23, 2012 How persuasive are open borders advocates? The case of Bryan Caplan by Vipul Naik, October 23, 2012.
Immigration Policy and the World Values Survey Bryan Caplan on EconLog, December 4, 2012 Who favors open borders? by Nathan Smith, December 3, 2012
The popularity of Open Borders in Burkina Faso: Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose Steve Sailer on his own blog, December 4, 2012 who favors open borders? by Nathan Smith, December 3, 2012
Is Swedish political correctness really Swedish ethnocentrism in disguise? Steve Sailer on his own blog, December 4, 2012 who favors open borders? by Nathan Smith, December 3, 2012
Vipul Naik and the Priority of Open Borders Bryan Caplan for EconLog, September 21, 2012 open borders and the libertarian priority list: part 1 by Vipul Naik, September 20, 2012.
Pre-Assimilation Bryan Caplan for EconLog, December 15, 2012 Robots or Immigrants? by Nathan Smith, December 15, 2012
Vipul Naik and Garett Jones on the Robustness of This Great American System Miles Kimball on the Supply Side Liberal blog, August 20, 2012 Garett Jones responds to my intelligence post by Vipul Naik, August 20, 2012
Immigration Reform 2013: If We Are Serious About Creating Wealth, We Will Open the Borders William Smith, Policy Mic, April 29, 2013 Citizenism and open borders by Michael Huemer, February 18, 2013
How penalties for illegal immigration stack up against other crimes Mercedes White for Deseret News, October 31, 2012 Immigration, a worse crime than child sex exploitation by John Lee, October 25, 2012
Cosmopolitanism and Open Borders: Some links Jason Brennan at Bleeding Heart Libertarians, July 20, 2013 Cosmopolitanism: global redistribution versus open borders? by Paul Crider, June 19, 2013
Genotypic IQ Occidental Ascent, December 2, 2012 my thoughts on race and IQ by Vipul Naik, November 15, 2012

Brief mentions or links without substantive discussion

Linking post or article Author, publisher, and date Linked post or page
A Question for Steve Sailer’s B-School Professor Bryan Caplan on EconLog, November 8, 2012 Future Citizens of All Kinds by Chris Hendrix, November 7, 2012
More Citizenism v. Open Borders debate Steve Sailer on his own blog, December 4, 2012 Future Citizens of All Kinds by Chris Hendrix, November 7, 2012
I, Citizenist Sonic Charmer on his own blog, October 23, 2012 How persuasive are open borders advocates? The case of Bryan Caplan by Vipul Naik, October 23, 2012.
A Disagreement with Collectivist Anti-Business Conservatives on Immigration Scott Lazarowitz on the Lew Rockwell blog, June 27, 2012 Is There a Downside to Presidential Nullification? by Nathan Smith, June 19, 2012
The State vs. the People, Government vs. Freedom (and other news…) Scott Lazarowitz on his blog “Reason and Jest”, June 19, 2012 Is There a Downside to Presidential Nullification? by Nathan Smith, June 19, 2012
Some Links Donald Boudreaux on Cafe Hayek, December 31, 2012 The Future of Immigration Economics by Eli Dourado, December 29, 2012
Some Links Donald Boudreaux on Cafe Hayek, May 7, 2013 Huffington Post by Nathan Smith, April 29, 2013
Assorted links (link #3) Tyler Cowen on Marginal Revolution, October 8, 2013 In response to Tyler Cowen by Nathan Smith, October 7, 2013
Assorted links (link #2) Tyler Cowen on Marginal Revolution, January 14 2014 The “Rude Shock” for Libertarians
Immigrants as Our “Future Rulers”: Does the Danger of Political Externalities Justify Restrictions on Immigration? Ilya Somin on Volokh Conspiracy, February 15, 2013 Political externalities page
The Changing Mood on Migration Peter Sutherland on Project Syndicate, September 3, 2013 Double world GDP page
The Naik Strategy Bryan Caplan on EconLog, November 2, 2013 Against economic determinism for migration trends and Migration: how many, what kind, and why it matters, both by Vipul Naik
Metaphorical Voting on “Let Anyone Take a Job Anywhere”: The Case of Vivek Wadhwa Bryan Caplan on EconLog, November 3, 2013 Myths and muddled thinking: the case for closed borders as discussed at the Intelligence Squared debate by John Lee, November 1, 2013
Open Borders is a Moderate Position Bryan Caplan on EconLog, September 3, 2013 Open borders is a radical proposal by Vipul Naik, February 6, 2013
Open Borders and Personality Bleg Bryan Caplan on EconLog, February 11, 2013 Territorialism page

Reddit threads

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