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Chris Balding: FAP Traitors Are the Real Bigots!
[h=2]Criticizing govt policies on immigration isn’t xenophobic[/h]
May 9th, 2014 |
Author: Contributions
Are Singaporeans Xenophobic?
Dr Christopher Balding
Singapore has been beset by charges and counter-charges of xenophobic
attitudes towards foreigners. A major financial center, regional economic
power, and playground for the super wealthy Singapore has carefully crafted its
image as foreigner friendly with welcoming immigration policies. The rapidly
rising level of foreign born residents has prompted a variety of concerns by
many Singaporeans with charges and counter-charges of xenophobic attitudes.
Immigration provokes strong feelings around the world for both rational and
irrational reasons. It is important however to put immigration, the benefits,
and the costs in perspective. The United States has the largest absolute number
of immigrants in the world with 46 million but also one of the highest numbers
as a percentage of the total population among large countries. Only Canada and
Australia have higher relative numbers with 21% and 28% of the population
foreign born as compared to 14% in the United States.
Small countries generally have higher levels of foreign born population than
larger countries. This happens for a couple of reasons. First, there are
numerous prosperous but small countries like Monaco, the United Arab Emirates,
and Singapore. As people generally prefer to migrate somewhere prosperous,
these countries are magnets for migration. Second, given the law of large
numbers, relatively small numbers of immigrants into a small country can have
large relative impact. For instance, Monaco has less than 25,000 immigrants,
but that represents 65% of the total population.
It is important to compare the absolute and relative level of immigration
before we examine the charges of xenophobia. Singapore has the 22[SUP]nd[/SUP]
highest number of immigrants when ranked as a percentage of the population. To
put this number in perspective, this is roughly three times the number of
immigrants as a percentage of the population in the United States and
420 times China. Even in absolute numbers Singapore
has lots of immigrants. Singapore has more total immigrants than China, Brazil,
and Indonesia combined.
This however does not answer the question of attitudes towards foreigners or
whether Singaporeans are xenophobic. Speaking only from personal experience,
Singaporeans have been respectful, agree, and disagree with what I have said but
rarely have I experienced anything I would classify as anti-foreigner.
Ironically, the emails and commenter’s who have told me not to poke my nose into
Singaporean affairs, to speak generally, are those who defend PAP. The most
anti-foreigner emails and comments I have received come from those, generally
speaking, accusing others most vociferously of xenophobia. People who have
listened respectfully and challenged me are criticizing the party in power and
those generally on the receiving end of xenophobia charges.
However, this fails to address what people think about immigration and why
they believe what they believe. As an economist, I believe in the free market
which includes the free movement of goods, capital, and labor to where they can
be most productive. However, I also recognize that for many reasons, there are
practical reasons this is difficult or impractical in the real world. Too often
proponents of a specific policy, even economists, fail to recognize the trade
offs. For instance, immigration has generally overall positive benefits but
also very real costs.
Taking the case of Singapore, given the constraints to housing and land,
large population inflows are going to place significant pressure on housing
prices. Furthermore, while high skilled workers doctors, scientists, and
economists are better suited to immigration pressures to the labor pool, middle
and low skilled workers are going to face the greatest pressures. Consequently,
immigration is placing upwards price pressure on housing and downward pressures
on wages for most people in Singapore.
Criticizing government policies on immigration is not xenophobic. There are
real benefits to immigration but also very real costs. Criticizing government
policies on immigration is not xenophobic as people are facing very real
pressures from the decisions. Criticizing opponents of government immigration
policies as xenophobic and bigoted reveals the weakness of the argument and
inability to weigh the complexity of policy dilemmas involved.
Are Singaporeans xenophobic? If they are, I certainly haven’t experienced it
and the anti-foreigner rhetoric that has been directed at me as come from those
criticizing others as xenophobic and as a substitute to refute my ideas. No,
Singaporeans aren’t xenophobic, they just want honest debate about government
policies.
Christopher
Balding
* The writer is a professor of
business and economics at the HSBC Business School of the Peking University
Graduate School. An expert in sovereign wealth funds, he has published in such
leading journals as the Review of International Economics, the Journal of Public
Economic Theory, and the International Finance Review on such diverse topics as
CDS pricing, the WTO, and the economics of adoption and abortion. His work as
been cited by a variety of media outlets including the Wall Street Journal and
the Financial Times. Prof Balding received his Phd from the University of
California, Irvine and worked in private equity prior to entering academia. The
article first appeared in his blog, www.facebook.com/baldingsworld.
Editor’s
note: A TRE reader highlighted this piece of news (‘Ed
Miliband: being worried about foreign workers in Britain is not racist‘)
some time ago. It is interesting to note that Ed Miliband, the leader of the
Labour Party which was voted out of government in the last UK election, now
admits that his party got it all wrong on immigration. He now realises that his
countrymen, who are worried about the number of foreign workers in Britain, are
not bigots:
Worrying about immigration, talking about immigration, thinking about
immigration, does not make them bigots. Not in any way. They are anxious about
the future.
[h=2]Criticizing govt policies on immigration isn’t xenophobic[/h]
Are Singaporeans Xenophobic?
Dr Christopher Balding
Singapore has been beset by charges and counter-charges of xenophobic
attitudes towards foreigners. A major financial center, regional economic
power, and playground for the super wealthy Singapore has carefully crafted its
image as foreigner friendly with welcoming immigration policies. The rapidly
rising level of foreign born residents has prompted a variety of concerns by
many Singaporeans with charges and counter-charges of xenophobic attitudes.
Immigration provokes strong feelings around the world for both rational and
irrational reasons. It is important however to put immigration, the benefits,
and the costs in perspective. The United States has the largest absolute number
of immigrants in the world with 46 million but also one of the highest numbers
as a percentage of the total population among large countries. Only Canada and
Australia have higher relative numbers with 21% and 28% of the population
foreign born as compared to 14% in the United States.
Small countries generally have higher levels of foreign born population than
larger countries. This happens for a couple of reasons. First, there are
numerous prosperous but small countries like Monaco, the United Arab Emirates,
and Singapore. As people generally prefer to migrate somewhere prosperous,
these countries are magnets for migration. Second, given the law of large
numbers, relatively small numbers of immigrants into a small country can have
large relative impact. For instance, Monaco has less than 25,000 immigrants,
but that represents 65% of the total population.
It is important to compare the absolute and relative level of immigration
before we examine the charges of xenophobia. Singapore has the 22[SUP]nd[/SUP]
highest number of immigrants when ranked as a percentage of the population. To
put this number in perspective, this is roughly three times the number of
immigrants as a percentage of the population in the United States and
420 times China. Even in absolute numbers Singapore
has lots of immigrants. Singapore has more total immigrants than China, Brazil,
and Indonesia combined.
This however does not answer the question of attitudes towards foreigners or
whether Singaporeans are xenophobic. Speaking only from personal experience,
Singaporeans have been respectful, agree, and disagree with what I have said but
rarely have I experienced anything I would classify as anti-foreigner.
Ironically, the emails and commenter’s who have told me not to poke my nose into
Singaporean affairs, to speak generally, are those who defend PAP. The most
anti-foreigner emails and comments I have received come from those, generally
speaking, accusing others most vociferously of xenophobia. People who have
listened respectfully and challenged me are criticizing the party in power and
those generally on the receiving end of xenophobia charges.
However, this fails to address what people think about immigration and why
they believe what they believe. As an economist, I believe in the free market
which includes the free movement of goods, capital, and labor to where they can
be most productive. However, I also recognize that for many reasons, there are
practical reasons this is difficult or impractical in the real world. Too often
proponents of a specific policy, even economists, fail to recognize the trade
offs. For instance, immigration has generally overall positive benefits but
also very real costs.
Taking the case of Singapore, given the constraints to housing and land,
large population inflows are going to place significant pressure on housing
prices. Furthermore, while high skilled workers doctors, scientists, and
economists are better suited to immigration pressures to the labor pool, middle
and low skilled workers are going to face the greatest pressures. Consequently,
immigration is placing upwards price pressure on housing and downward pressures
on wages for most people in Singapore.
Criticizing government policies on immigration is not xenophobic. There are
real benefits to immigration but also very real costs. Criticizing government
policies on immigration is not xenophobic as people are facing very real
pressures from the decisions. Criticizing opponents of government immigration
policies as xenophobic and bigoted reveals the weakness of the argument and
inability to weigh the complexity of policy dilemmas involved.
Are Singaporeans xenophobic? If they are, I certainly haven’t experienced it
and the anti-foreigner rhetoric that has been directed at me as come from those
criticizing others as xenophobic and as a substitute to refute my ideas. No,
Singaporeans aren’t xenophobic, they just want honest debate about government
policies.
Christopher
Balding
* The writer is a professor of
business and economics at the HSBC Business School of the Peking University
Graduate School. An expert in sovereign wealth funds, he has published in such
leading journals as the Review of International Economics, the Journal of Public
Economic Theory, and the International Finance Review on such diverse topics as
CDS pricing, the WTO, and the economics of adoption and abortion. His work as
been cited by a variety of media outlets including the Wall Street Journal and
the Financial Times. Prof Balding received his Phd from the University of
California, Irvine and worked in private equity prior to entering academia. The
article first appeared in his blog, www.facebook.com/baldingsworld.
Editor’s
note: A TRE reader highlighted this piece of news (‘Ed
Miliband: being worried about foreign workers in Britain is not racist‘)
some time ago. It is interesting to note that Ed Miliband, the leader of the
Labour Party which was voted out of government in the last UK election, now
admits that his party got it all wrong on immigration. He now realises that his
countrymen, who are worried about the number of foreign workers in Britain, are
not bigots:
Worrying about immigration, talking about immigration, thinking about
immigration, does not make them bigots. Not in any way. They are anxious about
the future.
