Summary Of Exodus By Paul Collinss

Throughout Exodus by Paul Collins, he draws a clear outline of what occurs if a country restricts migration or if they encourage it. He holds a clear stance that migration is more of an economic than a political concern (Collin, 12). Simplifying the subject, Collins links peoples’ migration to the diaspora. The volume of people who are coming into a country and the more acquaintances they have there will lead them to interact less with the natives (87). There is the intellectual merit behind the claims that Collins makes. His views are based on factual data and evidence that he provides through examples of case scenarios that have occurred. By Collins stating that there should not be an open border, is a strong pull against liberal policy ideas. Economically, there is a middle ground that needs to be found. If there are too many people moving in or out of a country, this will hurt the economy. There is a steady flow that needs to be managed.
In one of the examples Collins provides, if a country is going through a hard time, like the United States during the Great Depression, they are not as welcoming to the idea of people coming in or leaving (27). This is due to the fact, that when people are doing this, they are creating a negative quadratic shape in the economy. There will be a larger majority of the people who are in the middle class and very little in the upper and lower ends of the spectrum. With all to consider, having the majority in the middle class is considerably better than having a polynomial function where the lower class is larger than the upper class and the middle class is barely existent. With this in mind, if an economy has a dramatic decrease or even increase of workers and consumers, there would be a decrease of money that could be in the economic cycle. The money flow starts to become smaller than it already is because either there are more hands trying to get the little money there is or not enough money for every hand to grab. On the other hand, immigration does not always bring negative effects, depending on how one looks at the scenario. Germany in 1990s recruited temporary IT workers from Asia; France in 1950 got more construction workers from North Africa; Britain in 1970s found nurses from the Commonwealth (127). However, having a person who is able to fill this position, does not come without a cost. The people who are native to that country may have a decreased chance to apply for that particular job. This is due to the fact that the business found that the immigrant workers can be paid less and may be smarter than natives at a particular job. Hiring someone who is already knowledgeable in that area of work, is more convenient than training a person on how to do that job. However, there are cases where immigrants will need to learn the native language (242). While having a person who is more qualified to do the job is more convenient and cost-effective for the company, having a qualified person who is native to the country might be more beneficial for the economy. When looking at a corporation, if the foundations of one are not well constructed and the workers are not comfortable around each other, there is a higher likelihood of dysfunction. Comparing that with an economy, if people do not trust each other in their society, and they feel as if they are going to be shortchanged when they make a transaction, their cost will be higher and violence would be more prevalent (32). There are time when migrants do not meet the requirements that the country has in place. They do not have the education that the country they want to move to needs for them to have. However, this does not stop them from trying to get into the country. During the year 2011 in the United States, there were over 400,000 deportations (161). Entering into a country in which they have no family support in or requirement to, leads for a dramatic down fall in their ability to stay. While entering legally takes more time, it is more cost-efficient in the long term. This is when immigration becomes more of a political issue.
If people are immigrating into a country that is more wealthy than their country of origin, it will affect those who were left behind. This is due to the fact that they are not physically there. The financial help that they are giving can take a while to be sent. Political issues are brought up due to the fact that there are migrants who comes from a country that has a different political system and values (187). In more wealthy countries there is a higher chance to make money given that there is a better prospect of income. When looking at diasporas, it can be seen that when the society model is more functional, there could be an increase in the absorption of ideas (221). However, diasporas tend to be politically negative in the sense that it is not forward thinking. These tend to be more reflections upon what had happened than what is happening. If this information is not able to be retained and utilized in an efficient manner, than it does not do anything
good. In a social aspect, national identity is a key factor. There are people who will go to a new country but not accept the values or culture that they are now a part of. Assimilation and fusion are important because the lower the rate, the wider the gap is between the migrant and the people who are native to that country (242). If a person was to go anywhere and treat things disrespectfully, they would be less welcome to come back. There are always statistics to prove each side of a debate. Collins provides a sufficient amount of evidence throughout his book that proves his position on this issue. By demonstrating clear facts behind the statements that he makes, positively impacts any reader who has an open-mind on the matter. Certainly, anyone has the choice of whether or not they want to find evidence he provides and contradict it with something else as they did through interviews and other critiques. Anyone could feel free to argue statistic against statistic. While one statistic can certainly contradict another one, the reader is a major factor of how the information is processed and if the ideas are accepted or not.