From a surprising source, Harvard's Center for Ethics. A Crook is a Crook . . . But is He Still a Crook Abroad? On the Effect of Immigration on Destination-Country Corruption Among the countries with the highest levels of corruption (according to the International Country Risk Guide), several countries exhibit substantial numbers of emigrants. One may speculate that persistent corruption in a country makes corrupt behavior a general attitude among citizens, and emigrants from a corruption-ridden country may carry some of this attitude to their destination countries. That is, once substantial inflows of migrants from more corrupt countries into less corrupt countries is observed, will we see—sooner or later—increasing levels of corruption in the destination countries as well? Conclusions Independent of the econometric methodology applied, we consistently find: (i) General migration has an insignificant effect on the destination country’s corruption level. (ii) Immigration from corruption-ridden countries boosts corruption in the destination country. Hence, the international legislators’ fear (as expressed in recent agreements by the G20 group) that immigration may cause a problematic inflow of corruption appears to be justified. This seems to be common sense. Many of our criminal gangs, from the Mafia, to Asian gangs, to Mexican cartels and MS-13 are foreign imports. Maybe we shouldn't import them?
Sure. Don't import criminals. Nobody but idiots would consider the importation of known convicts as a good idea. For me immigration is there to supply labour in industrial areas where the demand for labour exceeds supply and this cannot be solved by training or retraining the existing population. Alright maybe easier said than done because there's probably an incentive to make cheap labour accessible to firms so that they do not move operations abroad which requires a superfluous labour force. Is this an argument for accepting no migrants or for having a decent screening system?
Well this study makes a pretty good argument (if only unintentionally) for having a decent screening system, but that seems to be a controversial point for some reason.
This is something I have been thinking about for a long time. I'm guessing a large part of the reason why these other countries are poor in the first place is the high amounts of corruption, which is endemic to their culture. What happens when we bring all these people over here and they go into leadership positions in big businesses and government? I read a book some time ago about just how endemic corruption was in the culture in Indonesia. It rose to so ridiculously absurd levels, most Americans would not be able to believe it. One example, during a natural disaster with huge numbers of people trying to flee and the roads completely clogged, local police forces set up no fewer than four separate barricade checkpoints along the same exit route, extorting "fees" (at each checkpoint) from cars if they wanted to be allowed to get through. These were people trying to escape impending lahar (similar to mudflow) from a volcano.
Yes it is controversial for stupid reasons. It's like getting upset that companies interview people and discern between individual abilities based on things like qualifications and experience. How else is any business going to function? A society is not really any different if we're honest with ourselves. Funny, people will have no problem admitting that most of their fellow countrymen are stupid, and that this is the fundamental problem we face. But then question why you should import more stupid people and they'll lose their minds. Oh well.
Does it? I'm not particularly convinced by a subjective measure which ranges from 0 to 6. I'm not convinced that GMM will capture anything here. The idea of simple lag structures picking up these effects isn't convincing. Note also that their models perform badly. Finding statistical significance, given the subjective measure involved, proves decidedly difficult. Ultimately the paper isn't high powered enough to make any strong conclusions either way.
It's already happening: 2 immigrant doctors from Pakistan defraud U.S. government of 200 million dollars
'Pyramid' of corruption pushes Iraq family to emigrate Hassanein Mohsen spent months protesting against corruption in Iraq. He also lodged complaints against officials. But now he is shunned as a whistleblower and sees only one way out: emigration. "You can't live here without paying bribes," the unemployed father-of-four told AFP. "I've given everything I can, and this country is still sinking lower." The stout 36-year-old engineer from the shrine city of Karbala said he had been driven to despair by the endemic graft in his homeland. Iraq was ranked the 21st most corrupt country by Transparency International, which said public corruption had deprived Iraqis of basic rights and services, including water, health care, electricity and jobs. It said systemic graft was eating away at Iraqis' hopes for the future, pushing growing numbers to try to emigrate. Corruption had infiltrated every part of Mohsen's life. He has forked out more than $1,000 in cash bribes for simple bureaucratic processes, he told AFP. These include updating his tax filings, getting a new passport or correcting spelling mistakes in his government records. During a brief stint as a furniture salesman, one of his cargo trucks got pulled aside by an Iraqi soldier while bringing in goods from Jordan. Even after confirming the import licences were in order, the soldier wouldn't let the goods through -- until Mohsen offered to leave an entire bedroom set for him at the checkpoint. There's also the high-level state corruption that trickles down to everyday life. "Corruption is a pyramid. For years, officials stole the money intended to improve public services, so now I have to pay extra for clean water, a power generator, health bills," he told AFP. Years of conflict left much of Iraq's infrastructure destroyed or in ruins and private operators have long been relied upon. Mohsen tried to fight against it. He gathered documents that he claimed were proof and filed a half-dozen complaints at Iraq's Integrity Commission against state officials in Karbala and Baghdad. "I saw the protests didn't go anywhere, so I tried that instead. But not one of the complaints went anywhere because the courts themselves are too corrupt to act." A lawyer in Baghdad, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the law in Iraq only tended to apply to "the weakest". "With one phone call, elected representatives, officials can make a judge drop the charges against them, either with a threat or by paying a bribe," the lawyer told AFP. Due to his public criticism of politicians, he's even afraid for his life after speaking out. "I got threatening phone calls from people claiming to be from the intelligence service. Now, I carry a gun with me everywhere I go," said Mohsen. "Sometimes I regret it. Why did I even go out to protest?" Corruption was among the top reasons Iraqis cited for seeking refuge in Europe, a 2016 survey by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found. "My friends all left, to the US, Sweden or other parts of Europe," his wife Nour said. 'Pyramid' of corruption pushes Iraq family to emigrate (msn.com) These people want to leave because of all the crime and corruption. But how long until the destination countries they arrive to become just as crime-ridden and corrupt as the places they left? Is moving around people really the solution to the problem?
