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Why we need more migrants: author Philippe Legrain at Sydney Ideas

20 February 2007

Australia needs more migrants, not less: Philippe Legrain.

Controversial UK-based author, media commentator and economist Philippe Legrain will voice a rarely heard view in the immigration debate at the first Sydney Ideas event of the year next Tuesday, 27 February, 2007.

In his lecture titled "Globalisation and why your country needs immigrants", Legrain will argue for an increase in international migration. According to Legrain, governments should not only free up their borders for trade, but should also make the movement of people easier in order to improve the global economy and the livelihoods of people world-wide.

The author of the recently released Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them (Little, Brown) and 2002's critically acclaimed Open World: The Truth About Globalisation (Abacus) will explore whether or not migration is a burden on developed countries, the hidden costs of immigration controls and the growing necessity in developed countries to increase the non-skilled labour force to do what he describes as "the jobs that people in rich countries no longer want to do."

In this timely Sydney Ideas lecture, co-presented by Gleebooks, Legrain promises to shed new light on the immigration debate, exploring how immigration can bring huge cultural and economic benefits to both rich and poor countries at a time when the Federal Government is set to introduce "citizenship tests" for new immigrants. Legrain, who takes a close look at the Australian experience in Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, will argue that rather than turning immigrants away, we should embrace them.

Philippe Legrain is a contributing editor to Prospect magazine and a freelance writer for TheFinancial Times, The Guardian, The New Republic and Foreign Policy. He blogs at www.philippelegrain.com and is a frequent media commentator on the BBC and Fox News. He is a former trade and economics correspondent for The Economist and a one-time special adviser to the World Trade Organisation director-general.

Philippe Legrain will be introduced to the Sydney Ideas stage by Dr Stuart Rosewarne, senior lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Sydney's Faculty of Economics and Business.