Although hypotetically here could be two independent interests that just happen to be strategically aligned. Some people want to stop unqualified immigrants, other people want to stop qualified immigrants who would compete with them on the job market.
Also there are of course concerns other than economical, such as people bringing with them some nasty habits from their cultures. These were not included in the thought experiment, which perhaps makes it irrelevant for real-world situations.
Also having slaves has the risk of those slaves rebelling later.
I wasn’t kidding when I said one of the motivations was a desire to not live with large numbers of strangers. One issue might be cognitive load—the strangers have unfamiliar customs (is a sincere apology accompanied by a smile or a serious expression?) and possibly an unfamiliar language.
As far as I can tell, the economic side of not wanting immigrants is a sort of merchantilism—a belief that all that matters is where the money is, so that new people showing up and getting paid for work just seems like money getting drained away. Weirdly, rich people who show up and spend money without working locally may be disliked, but they don’t seem to be as hated as poor people who do useful work. I don’t think it’s just about competition for jobs.
Great point!
Although hypotetically here could be two independent interests that just happen to be strategically aligned. Some people want to stop unqualified immigrants, other people want to stop qualified immigrants who would compete with them on the job market.
Also there are of course concerns other than economical, such as people bringing with them some nasty habits from their cultures. These were not included in the thought experiment, which perhaps makes it irrelevant for real-world situations.
Also having slaves has the risk of those slaves rebelling later.
I wasn’t kidding when I said one of the motivations was a desire to not live with large numbers of strangers. One issue might be cognitive load—the strangers have unfamiliar customs (is a sincere apology accompanied by a smile or a serious expression?) and possibly an unfamiliar language.
As far as I can tell, the economic side of not wanting immigrants is a sort of merchantilism—a belief that all that matters is where the money is, so that new people showing up and getting paid for work just seems like money getting drained away. Weirdly, rich people who show up and spend money without working locally may be disliked, but they don’t seem to be as hated as poor people who do useful work. I don’t think it’s just about competition for jobs.
https://hbr.org/2015/04/emotional-intelligence-doesnt-translate-across-borders
A few examples of people from different cultures misreading each other.