If people really preferred relatively higher income in a poorer society, then those born in Western Europe and the US would be saving up their money so they could live like kings in Africa. Very few people of middle- or upper-class status in poor countries would try to get to the West. Obviously, what we observe is precisely the opposite. Doctors from Africa will come to America in order to drive a cab if their license to practice medicine isn’t recognized. Research on Middle Eastern and African migrants to Europe shows that they aren’t the poorest of the poor, but are relatively well off for where they come from. There are a lot of stories about how terribly South Asian migrant workers are treated in the Arab Gulf, but this causes no problem in recruiting laborers who want to earn a higher income.

Here is more from Richard Hanania.

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