School’s Director co-authors new book on…

Dr Ian Goldin, Director of the Oxford Martin School, has co-authored a new book looking at how migration has shaped our world and will define our future.

Throughout history, migrants have fuelled the engine of human progress. Their movement has sparked innovation, spread ideas, relieved poverty, and laid the foundations for a global economy. In a world more interconnected than ever before, the number of people with the means and motivation to migrate will only increase. This publication looks at the profound advantages that such dynamics will have for countries and migrants the world over.

The authors explore the critical role of human migration since humans first departed Africa some fifty thousand years ago--how the circulation of ideas and technologies has benefited communities and how the movement of people across oceans and continents has fuelled economies. They show that migrants in today's world connect markets, fill labour gaps, and enrich social diversity. Migration also allows individuals to escape destitution, human rights abuses, and repressive regimes.

The authors indicate that most current migration policies are based on misconceptions and fears about migration's long-term contributions and social dynamics. Future policies, for good or ill, will dramatically determine whether societies can effectively reap migration's opportunities while managing the risks of the twenty-first century.

This book is a guide to debate and action and charts the past and present of international migration, making practical recommendations that will allow everyone to benefit from its unstoppable future growth.

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