Overview

Acentury ago, migrants often crossed an ocean and never saw their homelands again. Today, they call - or Skype - home the moment their flight has landed, and that's just the beginning. Thanks to cheap travel and easy communication, immigrants everywhere stay in intimate contact with their native countries, creating powerful cross-border networks. In Borderless Economics, Robert Guest, The Economist's Business Editor, travels through dozens of countries and 44 American states, observing how these networks create wealth, spread ideas and foster innovation. He shows how: * Brainy Indians in America collaborate with brainy Indians in India to build $70 fridges and $300 houses * Young Chinese study in the West and then return home (where they're known as ""sea turtles""), infecting China with ideas that will eventually turn it democratic * The so-called ""brain drain"" - the flow of educated migrants from poorcountries to rich ones - actually reduces global poverty *America's unique ability to attract and absorb migrants lets it tap into the energy of all the world's diaspora networks. So despite its current woes, if the United States keeps its borders open, it will remain the world's most powerful nation indefinitely. With on-the-ground reporting from Asia, Africa, Europe and even Idaho, this book examines how migration, for the all the disruption it causes, makes the world wealthier and happier.

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9780230113824

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Reviews

<p>Praise for Robert Guest's The Shackled Continent Rarely does an author combine experience, common sense and humour when writing about Africa. It's even rarer when the analysis is as hard-hitting as in the writing of Robert Guest. --Roger Bate, Wall Street Journal <br> Guest recognizes that the economic modernization he advocates comes with a price, but he is nonetheless optimistic. Readers may be moved enough to find ways of being so, too. -- Publishers Weekly

Praise for Robert Guest's The Shackled Continent: 'Rarely does an author combine experience, common sense and humour when writing about Africa. It's even rarer when the analysis is as hard-hitting as in the writing of Robert Guest.' - Roger Bate, Wall Street Journal 'Guest recognizes that the economic modernization he advocates comes with a price, but he is nonetheless optimistic. Readers may be moved enough to find ways of being so, too.' - Publishers Weekly

'Optimism is out of fashion at the moment, what with financial crises and joblessness in the headlines, and optimism about (or in) the US is less fashionable still. Into this dour setting, Robert Guest, business editor of The Economist, has arrived in his party clothes. Guest's new book Borderless Economics, is a celebration of the modern upsides of globalisation, immigration and kinship ties. As such, it might be the least fashionable important book to appear in some time.' - Pietra Rivoli, Financial Times 'Guest has produced a book that is witty, rigorous, humane, provocative and dazzlingly well-reported. Everyone should read it. Bravo!' - Tim Harford, author of Adapt and The Undercover Economist 'Fantastically entertaining and well-written![I] couldn't put it down.' Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired and author of The Long Tail and Free 'An informative, engaging survey of the beneficial consequences of globalization.' Kirkus Reviews Robert Guest has discovered the quantum mechanics of economic growth and political liberty. It turns out the wave-particle duality of economic matter and political energy is us. We the people of the world - moving where we want and doing what we will - create the universe of progress. Governments of Earth, say goodbye to the Newtonian concepts of nation and state. The apple of Borderless Economics has hit you on the head and knocked you out. P. J. O'Rourke 'For most, globalization has been about the movement of goods, services, technology and capital. As Robert Guest succinctly explains in this eminently readable book, globalization is actually about people - their migration, the networks they form and the ideas that they transmit through their mobility. In a world grappling with rising protectionist fever, this book is a warning that those nations who want to batten down the hatches and shut the free flow of people and ideas do so at their own risk.' Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India 'Too much of economic and political analysis is about countries. Robert Guest shows us the myriad ways in which countries are connected by people who move around to learn, to work and to live. These networks are increasingly central both to the nature of opportunity and to public policy issues in the United States. The book is persuasive: America will stay prosperous and strong only so long as we remain the Hub of the World.' Simon Johnson, co-author, 13 Bankers, and professor at MIT Sloan This is a thoughtful, entertaining and above all inspiring hymn of praise to the cultural, social and economic benefits of freer migration. Its conclusion should be noted by every politician running for office: immigration is an opportunity, not a threat. --Bill Emmott, author of 20:21 Vision and Rivals 'A wonderful antidote to the tired and vague cliches about 'globalization'. Drawing on a breadth of research and decades of reporting from 70 countries, Robert Guest makes the case for why global migration is (mostly) an extraordinary force for good.' - Charles Wheelan, author of Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science 'Amusing, intelligent and full of statistics, Borderless Economics is the perfect starting point for exploring new diasporas and international networks.' -LSE Political Blog 'Lucidly written, with a bit of humour thrown in, Robert Guest discusses the issue of migrations and immigrants at a practical level, trying to make politicians see the sense in it.' -Organiser

'Optimism is out of fashion at the moment, what with financial crises and joblessness in the headlines, and optimism about (or in) the US is less fashionable still. Into this dour setting, Robert Guest, business editor of The Economist, has arrived in his party clothes. Guest's new book Borderless Economics, is a celebration of the modern upsides of globalisation, immigration and kinship ties. As such, it might be the least fashionable important book to appear in some time.' - Pietra Rivoli, Financial Times 'Guest has produced a book that is witty, rigorous, humane, provocative and dazzlingly well-reported. Everyone should read it. Bravo!' - Tim Harford, author of Adapt and The Undercover Economist 'Fantastically entertaining and well-written...[I] couldn't put it down.' Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired and author of The Long Tail and Free 'An informative, engaging survey of the beneficial consequences of globalization.' Kirkus Reviews ""Robert Guest has discovered the quantum mechanics of economic growth and political liberty. It turns out the wave-particle duality of economic matter and political energy is us. We the people of the world - moving where we want and doing what we will - create the universe of progress. Governments of Earth, say goodbye to the Newtonian concepts of nation and state. The apple of Borderless Economics has hit you on the head and knocked you out."" P. J. O'Rourke 'For most, globalization has been about the movement of goods, services, technology and capital. As Robert Guest succinctly explains in this eminently readable book, globalization is actually about people - their migration, the networks they form and the ideas that they transmit through their mobility. In a world grappling with rising protectionist fever, this book is a warning that those nations who want to batten down the hatches and shut the free flow of people and ideas do so at their own risk.' Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India 'Too much of economic and political analysis is about countries. Robert Guest shows us the myriad ways in which countries are connected by people who move around to learn, to work and to live. These networks are increasingly central both to the nature of opportunity and to public policy issues in the United States. The book is persuasive: America will stay prosperous and strong only so long as we remain the Hub of the World.' Simon Johnson, co-author, 13 Bankers, and professor at MIT Sloan ""This is a thoughtful, entertaining and above all inspiring hymn of praise to the cultural, social and economic benefits of freer migration. Its conclusion should be noted by every politician running for office: immigration is an opportunity, not a threat.""-Bill Emmott, author of 20:21 Vision and Rivals 'A wonderful antidote to the tired and vague cliches about 'globalization'. Drawing on a breadth of research and decades of reporting from 70 countries, Robert Guest makes the case for why global migration is (mostly) an extraordinary force for good.' - Charles Wheelan, author of Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science 'Amusing, intelligent and full of statistics, Borderless Economics is the perfect starting point for exploring new diasporas and international networks.' -LSE Political Blog 'Lucidly written, with a bit of humour thrown in, Robert Guest discusses the issue of migrations and immigrants at a practical level, trying to make politicians see the sense in it.' -Organiser 'This is a superb book...' - Iqbal Quadir, Nature

Author Information

Robert Guest is currently the Global Business Editor at The Economist. Before joining The Economist, he was the Tokyo correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. The winner of numerous awards, Guest is a regular on both the BBC and CNN. He is the author of The Shackled Continent.

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