Here's a welfare concept libertarians can love.
Immigration and remittances are the most effective welfare programs ever devised. Anyone who claims to speak for the world's poor should embrace them. Here are some relevant facts:
1. Total remittances around the world are now about $80 billion a year, twice the amount of so-called "foreign aid," which often goes to corrupt governments, not poor citizens.
Very nice. Blogger Tyler Cowen goes on to explain how this makes the European socialists look very bad.
Posted by Walter at October 27, 2003 07:04 AM"Blogger Tyler Cowen goes on to explain how this makes the European socialists look very bad."
Uh, not exactly. Looking only at total dollar amounts, the US always ends up first or second (depending on the value of the yen vs. the dollar.) Even if you include remittances, which measures the generosity of foreigners living in a given country, the US still trails many of the socialist [sic] European countries.
Posted by: Seb at October 29, 2003 10:44 AM Seb's numbers are based on percentage of GDP, implying that more prosperous a country is, the more it should be obligated to pay out to others.
Also, in his article, he dismisses the idea that remittances are a sign generosity. Fair enough, but the U.S. should get credit for its acceptance of immigrants. It's a side benefit of having an open society. European countries aren't as open, and, yes, that makes them look bad.