Does free migration threaten European-style welfare states?

Sweden's Globalisation Council have just published a report I have written entitled "Is Free Migration Compatible with a European-Style Welfare State?" Milton Friedman thought that it wasn't. Conventional wisdom on both left and right concurs. I disagree.

The abstract is as follows:

This report examines the interaction between free migration and a European-style welfare state, with particular reference to Sweden. It considers whether rich-country welfare states act as a magnet for migrants from poorer countries, examines immigrants’ net impact on public finances, and suggests ways of reconciling free migration with a generous welfare state. It looks at how the broader economic impact of free migration would affect the affordability of the welfare state and examines the claim that greater diversity reduces political support for the welfare state. It concludes that while free migration may pose challenges to a European-style welfare state, the two are not incompatible. On the contrary: by boosting economic growth, free migration could actually make the welfare state more affordable.

To mark the report's publication, Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's most prestigious newspaper, has just published an article that outlines some of my reasoning and conclusions. Swedish speakers may be interested in reading it here

More Sweden coverage...

in Svenska Dagbladet, here

Speaking at Sweden's Globalisation Council

I was in Stockholm earlier this week speaking at a conference organised by Sweden's Globalisation Council, making the case for open borders in front of an audience including the country's immigration minister, the head of its trade-union federation and the deputy head of its employers federation.

I have also written a paper for the Council on how free migration is compatible with a European-style welfare state. A brilliant young journalist (he's 29, I'm 34, so he makes me feel old) called Peter Wolodarski wrote a leader for Dagens Nyheter about it. Read it here.

Interviewed in Stockholm City

In Swedish. Read it here

Interviewed on Swedish Radio P1

by Lena Jordebo. Listen to it here

Interviewed by Göteborgs-Posten

In Swedish, here

Är Sverige öppet för framtidens arbetskraft?

My trip to Stockholm has attracted quite a lot of media attention and debate. Niclas Ericsson has very kindly emailed me the leader that he wrote for corren.se about it. I hope it's positive, but I can't know for sure as I unfortunately don't understand Swedish.

Sweden rocks

I'm just back from a fantastic trip to Stockholm, where I spoke about Immigrants at Timbro and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and got lots of media coverage.

I'm back in Sweden next Friday, 1 June, to speak at the hoodsfred, a cultural  festival in Kista outside Stockholm.

My book is available in English from good booksellers in Sweden, and online here.

Starka skäl för friare invandring

Kristian Karlsson wrote an article about Immigrants in Svenska Dagbladet on 17 February. Read it here