Bauschard Debate 9/25/15 5: 06 pm refugees Pre-Release

Refugees improve the economy by boosting consumption

Daniel Altman, 9-8-15, Foreign Policy, We Should Be Competing to Take in Refugees, http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/08/we-should-all-be-competing-to-take-in-refugees-europe-syria/ DOA: 9-22-15 Daniel Altman is senior editor, economics at Foreign Policy and is an adjunct professor at New York University's Stern School of Business.

But countries with tight labor markets aren’t the only ones for which refugees can provide an economic boost. Refugees are consumers before they’re workers, in fact as soon as they arrive in their new homes. Before they have jobs, they typically receive financial aid from relatives, community groups, charities, and the government so they can pay rent and buy necessities. In each of these cases, money is converted from savings to consumption. Donations that might otherwise have sat in bank accounts join funds from treasury coffers in a massive short-term stimulus to the economy. This stimulus doesn’t come at the cost of future growth, either. Instead, it’s an upfront payment for a wellspring of long-term economic activity.

Refugees net positive economically

New Scientist, September 9, 2015, Why Welcoming More Refugees Makes Economic Sense for Europe, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22730383-800-why-welcoming-more-refugees-makes-economic-sense-for-europe/ DOA: 9-22-15

Even without a worker shortage, migrants needn’t be a burden. On 4 September the World Bank, the UN’s International Labour Organization and the OECD club of rich countries issued a report concluding that “in most countries migrants pay more in taxes and social contributions than they receive.”

In a study last year, researchers at University College London found both European and non-European immigrants to the UK more than pay their way. Non-Europeans living in the UK since 1995 brought £35 billion worth of education with them. Those who arrived between 2000 and 2011 were less likely than native Brits to be on state benefits, and no more likely to live in social housing. Unlike natives, they contributed a net £5 billion in taxes during that period.

That is partly because most migrants are young and need relatively little in the way of benefits. Their economic impact approaches that of natives as they age and assimilate. But the positive effect can be substantial: Carlos Vargas-Silva of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford reported this year that letting in 260,000 immigrants a year could halve the UK’s public debt 50 years from now. “There are more than a dozen good studies now that point to a net positive effect of migrants on the economy,” says Goldin.

Most data shows the economic impact is generally positive,” agrees Betts, especially when immigrants are well educated, as most Syrians are. “Unlike ordinary migrants, refugees didn’t choose to come,” says Betts, potentially making their impact slightly different.. But that means they will go home if they can, or if not, adapt like other migrants. “There can be local negative effects on jobs, but that can be managed,” says Betts. For example minimum wages can stop immigrants undercutting locals. Some studies show migrants create jobs for locals, says Mathias Czaika of the International Migration Institute at the University of Oxford. “An influx of migrants can depress wages, but mostly for other migrants, and only 1 to 3 per cent. Mostly the impact on wages or jobs is neutral or positive.” Germany has no doubts. “Every euro we spend on training migrants is a euro to avoid a shortage of skilled labour,” German state governments declared last week. Otherwise, they say, they would have to spend more on benefits, as the labour shortage hurts industry and jobs.

Refugees tend to be ambitious and entrepreneurial

CNN, September 10, 2015, Today’s refugee could be tomorrow’s entrepreneur, http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/10/news/migrant-crisis-refugees-business/ DOA: 9-22-15

But for countries that agree to take more refugees from Syria, Iraq, Eritrea and Afghanistan, the payoff could be significant. Those nations could benefit from an influx of new, largely young, workers, and may even become home to future stars of the business world. "Migrants who take huge risks to get where they want to go often tend to be more entrepreneurial people ... that may also help to keep an aging economy vibrant," noted Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank. History is studded with migrants who have made it to the top. Some fled persecution, others left their native lands in search of more opportunity. George Soros is one of the most famous examples. Soros fled communist Hungary in 1947 after surviving the Nazi occupation of his home country during World War II. He emigrated first to England and later settled in the U.S.

A2: Too Expensive

The issue isn’t money—Europe can afford it

Amanda Taub, 9-5-15, Vox, Europe’s refugee crisis, explained, http://www.vox.com/2015/9/5/9265501/refugee-crisis-europe-syria DOA: 9-7-15

That problem would be much easier to solve if it were just a question of money. Europe is wealthy, and so are Australia and the United States. There is no doubt that we could bear the costs of resettling and sheltering the refugees who need help, even with their growing numbers. And in the long run, such a program would likely pay for itself: immigration tends to be a net economic positive for immigrants and their new home countries alike. But the problem isn't really about money. Rather, the challenge is about overcoming the domestic political forces that drive nativism, right-wing populism, and anti-immigration policies. The political forces are complex, but they often come down to an anxiety about change.

A2: Refugees Could be Terrorists

Rare for refugees to be terrorists

Anne Speckhard is adjunct associate professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University in the School of Medicine and of security studies in the School of Foreign Service. She served with her husband, U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Daniel Speckhard from 2007-2010 during which time a large influx of refugees made their way from Turkey to Greece. She is author of Talking to Terrorists, coauthor of Undercover Jihadi, and her newly released book is Bride of ISIS, September 9, 2015, Taking Refugees is not a risk to National Security, http://time.com/4024473/taking-in-refugees-is-not-a-risk-to-national-security/ DOA: 9-22-15

But as a national security expert who has spent more than 20 years working alongside government defense and security experts, I know that the majority of Syrian refugees fleeing war are not using the opportunity of refugee status to embed themselves as terrorists in the West. The majority are trying to escape barrel bombs, chemical attacks, and barbaric violence, caught between the violence of a dictatorial regime and that carried out by terrorists. They are, for the most part, much less likely to have been involved in terrorism than to have been the victims of it. In fact, refugees who become terrorists are extremely rare. There are only a small number of cases of refugees admitted into the U.S. who have been arrested on terrorism charges—the actual data shows that this is a rare phenomenon. Refugees from Syria will be carefully vetted, and those with terrorist ties refused. Security concerns should not be a reason to turn away desperate doctors, teachers, nurses, engineers and salt-of-the-earth laborers who simply want to escape a horrific humanitarian crisis alongside their innocent children.

Refugees are fleeing violence, not trying to cement it

Daniel Altman, 9-8-15, Foreign Policy, We Should Be Competing to Take in Refugees, http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/08/we-should-all-be-competing-to-take-in-refugees-europe-syria/ DOA: 9-22-15 Daniel Altman is senior editor, economics at Foreign Policy and is an adjunct professor at New York University's Stern School of Business.

Moreover, the families fleeing Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and other countries — totaling perhaps 20 million people — are unlikely to pose a security risk. They’re trying to escape extremism and violence, not foment it. They couldn’t be further from the stereotypical villains of the global war on terror.

No significant increased risk, terrorists won’t try to mask as Syrian refugees

Baltimore Sun, September 21, 2015, A Limited Welcome for Syria’s Refugees, http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-refugees-20150921-story.html DOA: 9-22-15

Moreover, we can't close our border to tens of thousands of desperate people for fear that one or two of them might be dangerous. If we've learned anything since the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, it's that the terrorist threat can come from any direction, and the only truly effective defense is constant vigilance. That wouldn't change because a few thousand for more Syrians are admitted to the country. And smart terrorists probably wouldn't pose as Syrian refugees anyway, since they would know in advance they would be subject to more intense scrutiny simply because of where they claimed to be from.

A2: Military Action Better

We’d have to invade Syria

Baltimore Sun, September 21, 2015, A Limited Welcome for Syria’s Refugees, http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-refugees-20150921-story.html DOA: 9-22-15

Short of a massive ground invasion to topple the Assad regime and push ISIS back, there's no obvious U.S. military option to resolve the Syrian conflict. Even a stepped-up U.S. effort to arm and train the so-called "moderate" Syrian opposition could easily backfire and leave the country worse off than it is now. At the very least, our efforts so far in that direction have proved wholly ineffective. Difficult as it may prove to work with Russia and Iran on the issue, at this point, a negotiated cease-fire may be the only practical way to stop the fighting and end Syria's agony.

A2: Benefits Cause People to Flee

People want to stay at home. They only flee because they have to

New Scientist, September 9, 2015, Why Welcoming More Refugees Makes Economic Sense for Europe, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22730383-800-why-welcoming-more-refugees-makes-economic-sense-for-europe/ DOA: 9-22-15

Apart from that, the EU has never used its emergency plan, says Garlick, because “member states fear this will be a pull factor for other people from the same country”. Observers say this is why the UK refuses migrants who have already entered Europe – it would encourage more to come. “No existing sound research substantiates the political claim that giving people asylum in Europe stimulates more flow,” says Alexander Betts, head of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. “Nearly all refugees want to go home. They don’t sit in refugee camps calculating where they can get the best benefits.”

“There is no evidence of a pull factor,” agrees Ian Goldin, head of the Oxford Martin School on global challenges. “If you halved the risk of death, would that make more come? Desperate people don’t make that calculation.”

Any pull is insignificant compared to push – such as the ever-increasing hardship in Middle-Eastern refugee camps, Goldin says.

A2: Refugee Camps Solve

Refugees leaving camps, it’s hopeless

Maria Gallucci, International Business Times, Syrian Refugee Crisis 2015, http://www.ibtimes.com/syrian-refugee-crisis-2015-record-levels-humanitarian-aid-still-not-enough-support-2105083 DOA: 9-22-15

As the influx of Syrian refugees into Europe grows, the number of people staying in regional refugee camps is declining. The population at the Zaatari camp in Jordan has dropped to 79,000 people, down by 2,000, since the beginning of August, Hovig Etyemezian, the U.N. director of the camp, told the AP.

Refugees are growing weary after years of staying in the camps with little expectation their lives will improve, he said. The international community "hasn't woken up yet to the need to assist Jordan, the state institutions and the humanitarian agencies, so we can continue serving the refugees here," he told the news organization.

Inadequate assistance is being provided for those in refugee camps

Nicholas Kristof, 9-4-15, New York Times, Refugees Who Could Be Us, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-refugees-who-could-be-us.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0 DOA: 9-6-15

As millions of Syrian refugees swamped surrounding countries, the world shrugged. United Nations aid requests for Syrian refugees are only 41 percent funded, and the World Food Program was recently forced to slash its food allocation for refugees in Lebanon to just $13.50 per person a month. Half of Syrian refugee children are unable to go to school. So of course loving parents strike out for Europe.

Providing financial assistance to house refugees is not a long-term solution

Shelly Kerebell, September 22, 2015, Forbes, Refugee Crisis: Why Are Europe’s Leaders Failing? http://www.forbes.com/sites/shelliekarabell/2015/09/22/refugee-crisis-why-are-europes-leaders-failing/2/ DOA: 9-22-15

One suggestion to mitigate the present emergency was suggested by French President Francois Hollande – assist Turkey financially and otherwise – in sheltering asylum seekers. The suggestion was not doubt influenced by the fact that France is already home to the largest Moslem population in Europe, but there is also a recent precedent: this was essentially what Germany did in the early 1990s – paying Poland to reopen former East German military barracks to house and process refugees from the former Yugoslavia. Helping non-European countries provide even temporary shelter could substantially diffuse the crisis but it is not a long-term solution.

Inadequate foreign assistance for refugees

Anne Speckhard is adjunct associate professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University in the School of Medicine and of security studies in the School of Foreign Service. She served with her husband, U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Daniel Speckhard from 2007-2010 during which time a large influx of refugees made their way from Turkey to Greece. She is author of Talking to Terrorists, coauthor of Undercover Jihadi, and her newly released book is Bride of ISIS, September 9, 2015, Taking Refugees is not a risk to National Security, http://time.com/4024473/taking-in-refugees-is-not-a-risk-to-national-security/ DOA: 9-22-15
The world is experiencing the largest refugee population since World War II. Yet the portion of the U.S. budget going to help refugees has remained flat-lined. The entire U.S. foreign assistance budget makes up less than 1% of the federal budget and is stretched thin across a range of life-changing programs addressing issues including maternal and child health, water and sanitation development, vaccines, medicines and disease prevention, farming assistance, and children’s education. Only about an estimated 12% of the foreign assistance budget goes to humanitarian support for refugees caught in the crosshairs of war. The U.S. can do better.

Refugee camps have inadequate resources

Malala Yousafzai is a student, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and co-founder of the Malala Fund, a nonprofit organization that empowers girls globally through education to achieve their potential and be agents of change in their community, September 9, 2015, Time, Malala: The World’s Response to Refugees Has been Pitiful, http://time.com/4027099/malala-refugee-crisis-angela-merkel/ DOA: 9-22-15
The world’s response has been pitiful — only 37% of the U.N.’s response plan for this year has been funded and more than 63% of funding needs are unmet. Food rations for refugees are being cut because nations will not contribute their fair share to help. Entire refugee camps have only one or two schools for children. If we say we care, we must not just use words, but take action.

A2: Racist Backlash

Neo-Nazis in Germany are only a small percentage of the population

Daniel Blei, 9-4-15, Foreign Policy, The Banality of History, http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/04/the-banality-of-history-germany-migrants-neo-nazis/ DOA: 9-6-15 Blei is a historian and editor of scholarly books

I was in Berlin in August, watching the storm of controversy surrounding Reschke’s cri de coeur and wondering why she had struck a deeper nerve in German society than the actual attacks she described. Moral responsibility for creating a culture of decency, she implied, lay not with right-wing extremists — but with regular Germans. Neo-Nazis are indeed a small minority; an official estimate in 2012 counted 22,150 right-wing extremists in a population of some 80 million.

A2: Aid Solves

Not enough aid

Maria Gallucci, International Business Times, Syrian Refugee Crisis 2015, http://www.ibtimes.com/syrian-refugee-crisis-2015-record-levels-humanitarian-aid-still-not-enough-support-2105083 DOA: 9-22-15

Humanitarian groups have raised only 40 percent of the funds they say they need to support Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday. While the international community has sent "record amounts" of aid dollars for refugee camps and support programs, aid workers say it's still not enough to match the scale of the rising humanitarian crisis, the Associated Press reported.

Aid agencies requested about $7.4 billion for 2015 to assist Syrians fleeing their country's 4 1/2-year-old civil war. Yet so far, they've received just $2.8 billion, or 38 percent of the total, the U.N. refugee agency told the AP.

The funding shortfall is forcing many aid groups to curtail programs in regional refugee host countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. As conditions in the camps deteriorate and food supplies run low, growing numbers of Syrians are streaming into Europe or even heading home.

"Need has risen so much that even though we are securing record amounts of funding, record amounts of political will and support, nonetheless the [funding] gap has widened," Stephen O'Brien, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the AP during a tour Saturday of the Zaatari refugee camp, the largest camp in Jordan for Syrian refugees.

Directory: uploads
uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10
uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers
uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It?
uploads -> For want of a nail
uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models
uploads -> Police Militarization
uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016
uploads -> Township of winfield
uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014
uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now!

Download 0.68 Mb.

Share with your friends: