Immigration and the Global Economy: How Human Movement Affects Firms

0.5-1 Course Unit

If you think immigration isn’t a business issue, think again. No topic is more controversial and factually misunderstood by the public, pundits, and politicians than the movement of people across borders. But in the realm of business, managers often make a serious mistake when they dismiss the topic as just “social and political context” that doesn’t directly affect the bottom line. Human migration causes the movement of four factors essential to firms: capital, talent, ideas, and consumption. Savvy firms anticipate and respond to the movement of those factors, as well as to the immigration systems created by regulators to govern the flows of those factors. This course will help you be better prepared to deal with immigration issues as a manager, entrepreneur, investor, and citizen by covering the following interrelated themes: # How does human mobility affect the economy, and why does it matter for firms? # How can managers design strategies and organizations to benefit from the movement of capital, talent, ideas, and customers created by migration? # How can entrepreneurs across sending and receiving locations capitalize on the opportunities created by constantly evolving migration dynamics? # How do immigration systems work, and how do they affect and are affected by firms? These issues are inescapable in our day and age. People are the ultimate resource for firms and economies, on both the supply and demand side. And people will only become increasingly scarce as fertility rates rapidly decline all around the world. The main driver of change in population dynamics, with all its ramifications for firms, will be migration. Therefore, anyone prepared for the future of the global economy must be equipped to understand the core themes of this course. As we take on those themes, we will inevitably get into all the controversial and politicized issues surrounding immigration. There will be plenty of room for debate on both sides of those issues. But we will avoid the hyperbole and hot air that characterizes most of the public debate on immigration by rooting our discussion in hard-nosed empirical evidence. You’ll see that the facts offer surprisingly clear and strong answers to many of the so-called controversies. Besides making you a better business leader, this will equip you to be a more informed and thoughtful citizen. 0.5-1 Course Unit