Robert Guest

Event Date:
November 11, 2011 – 3:00 PM to November 12, 2011 – 3:59 PM

Location:
Atkins Library Halton Reading Room

Guest is the Economist’s business editor and an author. His latest work examines how migration—for all the disruption it causes—makes the world wealthier and happier. Guest’s book, “Borderless Economics: Chinese Sea Turtles, Indian Fridges and the New Fruits of Global Capitalism”, travels through 44 states and nearly 70 countries, observing how these networks create wealth, spread ideas and foster innovation.

In his latest work, Guest shows how:

Indians in America collaborate with Indians in India to build $70 fridges, $300 houses and the frugal technology that could ultimately save Medicare;

• 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 poor countries 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.