February 5 2013

Dear Sir,

Re Immigration Economics. The article on the above topic by Nathan Kowalski in

The Royal Gazette of February 4 was excellent. His dispassionate description of how both low-wage and high-wage immigrants can help a community to improve its standard of living was instructive. From my understanding Britain is undergoing a similar discussion. The Financial Times reports concern among the population about potential immigrants from eastern European countries that have joined the EU displacing low-wage workers in Britain. At the same time businesses are complaining that the new immigration policy is forcing recent graduates to leave Britain as soon as they finish their studies. These graduates are considered as valuable assets to business.

It seems that governments everywhere are faced with balancing the assumed needs of their citizens against the expressed needs of the business community. In my opinion it is better to work through patient discussion of these issues with interested stake holders rather than precipitate action because “I know best”. There are two quotations that I think may be instructive on this matter. The first is from anthropologist Jane Goodall “Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is all right, as long your values don’t change.” The second is from Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis “Nearly all legislation [or policy] involves … a weighing of relative social values.” The combination of the thoughts of these two eminent persons suggests that if government wants a policy to work for the long term it should discuss the policy with everyone who is affected by it to ensure that they all feel that their issues are addressed.

JT CHRISTOPHER

Warwick