Professor Hein de Haas debunks common myths about migration at 2014 London Lecture

Professor Hein de Haas, Wolfson Governing Body Fellow and Co-Director of the International Migration Institute, treated the audience at the recent Wolfson London Lecture to a series of fascinating research insights which serve to counter 'common myths about migration'. The event, which took place at the Museum of London, was hosted by Professor Dame Hermione Lee and attended by over 60 Fellows, alumni and friends of Wolfson.

Professor de Haas told his audience that migration is an issue that raises high hopes for migrants and deep fears among native populations. Sometimes this fear amounts to hysteria, as with the British press reports about the impending deluge of immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania when they gained full mobility rights in Europe. A few months earlier, when a boat full of migrants sank off Lampedusa, Italy, politicians talked about an ‘invasion of migrants' and that something needed to be done, otherwise the situation would be out of control.

Professor de Haas argued that migration is inevitable and that countries experiencing economic growth will always attract migrants. In Europe, military and government agencies have had to create a new fear since the end of the Cold War something that threatens our economic and physical security, as well as our sovereignty. Migration meets these criteria, so states have increasingly turned to border controls to show their citizens that ‘something is being done'. But, he argued, most immigration policies are ineffectual, often leading to more rather than less immigration.

Europeans tend to assume that there has been a massive increase in immigration in recent times. In fact, during 19602000, a period of significant population growth, the level of migration remained pretty stable in percentage terms. What has changed is the nature and direction of migration, with Europe having become a significant migration magnet since World War Two. 

Professor de Haas went on to demonstrate that poverty is not the main cause of South-North migration, because it requires considerable resources to migrate over long distances and across international borders. Nor does migration lead to a brain drain: skilled workers who leave their home country typically do so because of the lack of professional opportunities. And while they are away, they send money back home on a scale that dwarfs development aid. Later, migrants return with their newly-acquired resources and skills.

Perhaps the most contradictory of views is the one that says migrants take ‘our' jobs and at the same time are welfare scroungers. Migration is primarily driven by the demand for labour, so if an economy is doing well, migrants will be drawn in. “If we look at the overall impact of migration on the economy, we find the effects are small but on the positive side, if not equally distributed across sectors of the population,” concluded Professor de Haas.

Introducing Professor de Haas, Dame Hermione Lee described him as “one of our most active and distinguished Governing Body Fellows who has made himself a valued and integral part of the College”. In opening the formal proceedings, she welcomed past, present and hopefully future friends of Wolfson, saying how delighted she was to be in another Powell and Moya building.

A podcast of Prof de Haas' lecture can be accessed here. 

Report by Jackie Morgan

Tweet