Bryan Caplan, Economics Professor, on Open Borders for a global boom

Bryan Caplan is an American behavioral economist and author. Caplan is a professor of economics at George Mason University, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and a former contributor to the Freakonomics blog; he also publishes his own blog, EconLog. He is a self-described " economic libertarian". The bulk of Caplan's academic work is in behavioral economics and public economics, especially public choice theory. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lyrics to the song that was inspired by the interview:

KEYHOLES TO OPEN BORDERS

CHORUS 
G                    Em              C         G 
Build walls around the welfare state, not a border round the country 
        Em                  C                          D                       G 
These ideas may sound unfair but poverty's unfairer 
C                                 D                G 
Keyhole solutions to open borders 

VERSE 
G                       D                             C                               G 
Immigrants took our jobs! took our jobs, took our jobs! 
C                                    Em                       D                     G 
Use apparatuses like taxes  
as practices to relax the natives  
by paying their taxes  
so their objection collapses 

Immigrants only take, and they will break, the welfare state 
For these purposes  
make access to services  
purchases  
so this encourages nurturers  
for surpluses 

BRIDGE 
             D                   C                       D                 G 
What about having Blue cards -  as well as Green? 

CHORUS             

VERSE 
They don’t talk like us, they can't discuss, they can't adjust 
To address this request I suggest a language test which selects the best that possess the necessary linguistic finesse 

They've got bad ideas, they'll bring them here, these are our fears 
Protect from the threat from the outset by vets for citizenship with a net to catch the criminal mindset 

BRIDGE 
Restriction of movement has given us global apartheid 

CHORUS (INSTRUMENTAL) 

MIDDLE (CHORDS AS CHORUS) 
G                    Em                    C                       G 
You say stop immigration when you don't get causation 
        Em                  C                          D                       G 
When your only tools a hammer, everything looks like a nail 
G                    Em              C         G 
America had open borders til 1924 
        Em                  C                          D                       G 
And got  the tired and poor, no none wanted anymore 
D                   C                                D                G 
It became the richest country in the whole wide world  

CHORUS 

BRIDGE 
They say stop immigration, cos they don’t understand causation 

VERSE 
Immigrants they bring crime, all the time, just by design 
The data doesn’t back this up but check criminal records 
   

They don’t know our culture, or our structure, they are vulgar 
Stipulate local knowledge, and a  cultural exam 

CHORUS 
For many financial and social problems they say restrict immigration 
They throw away the benefits cos they don’t understand causation 
When your only tools a hammer, everything looks a nail 

BRIDGE (Spoken) 
These solutions may sound difficult, but they're already in action 
Welfare to Work & delayed citizenship have already gained traction 
What about Blue cards as well as Green?