POLA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: International Social Survey Programme, Lant Pritchett, World Values Survey
24 Feb 2016
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Document Summary
A win-win solution for rich countries and poor people in the developing world. Increasing the cross-border movement of unskilled workers and their families holds potentially huge gains for the developing and developed world. Despite irresistible forces creating pressure for increased labor mobility, immovable ideas in rich countries have largely prevented it. The irresistible forces include demographics (especially aging populations in the rich world and the need for young, tax-paying workers to keep the economy running and support retiree pensions) and the widening income gap between rich and poor countries. The solution is to adopt labor policies that are as beneficial as possible to poor people in developing countries, but still politically acceptable to rich country voters. An innova- tive solution would be temporary legal work programs negotiated bilaterally, wherein rich coun- tries take responsibility for certifying labor shortages in specific industries and labor-sending countries take responsibility for ensuring that temporary workers actually return home.
