Lant Pritchett

Development economist; argues that letting people move to rich countries does more for the poor than aid, and wrote Let Their People Come.

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What they believe

Hostility to migration is the last gasp of a dying system rather than the shape of the future.

The negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system and the transition to a more realistic approach.

english.elpais.comSaid 29 Nov 2023This on korrents
The rich world is spending its scarcest resource, elite talent, on economising the most abundant resource on earth: ordinary labour.

My key argument is that in the current global economy we have some of the scarcest resources on the planet devoting themselves to economizing one of the most abundant resources on the planet.

lampforum.orgSaid 2 Mar 2023This on korrents

The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.

All 14 beliefs, on korrents

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29 November 2023

Lant PritchettKorrents 29 Nov 2023

From one piece Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ 8 beliefs · english.elpais.com

korrents.com
Migrants filling low-skill jobs in rich countries take nobody’s job, because the native workforce is shrinking faster than those jobs are appearing.

immigrationAmerica

Their words

According to my numbers, in the United States there will be a net of 3.24 million new low-skill jobs, but there will also be 4.7 million fewer people in the labor force.

english.elpais.com
korrents.com
Anti-immigration parties gain ground by generating fear, not by winning the argument about what immigration does.

immigration

Their words

The thing about the far-right parties is that they are trying to get people to equate all foreigners in a country with a threat to our future, but they are only gaining ground because of their ability to generate fear.

english.elpais.com
korrents.com
Wanting to preserve a national culture is a legitimate human impulse and not in itself a racist one.

racism

Their words

Valuing traditions, culture and history is simply a legitimate part of the human experience, and there is nothing wrong with preserving that.

english.elpais.com

+ 5 more

korrents.com
Public hostility to immigration comes from fusing “who may work here” with “who becomes one of us”, and separating the two dissolves it.

immigration

Their words

When you separate those two questions in public dialogue, the negative attitudes disappear.

english.elpais.com
korrents.com
Immigration policy should run on three separate tracks: future citizens, people allowed to work, and people admitted out of necessity.

immigration

Their words

Governments should create three tracks for people who come to live in their country. One track is that of people who hope to become Spanish. Another is that of those who we are going to allow to live and work here; the third is that of those of we are going to allow to be in Spain out of necessity.

english.elpais.com
korrents.com
Demography is about to turn the rich world’s problem from finding a job for every person into finding a person for every job.

demographics

Their words

But once the demographics reverse, the challenge will be to find a person for every job. In the coming years, the impact of demographic changes is going to lead to chronic labor shortages.

english.elpais.com
korrents.com
Without immigrants Spain’s labour force falls from 22.6 to 15.7 million by 2050, far too few to run its economy.

immigration

Their words

In the absence of immigrants, between 2020 and 2050 Spain’s labor force (its active population) will drop from 22.6 to 15.7 million people. You’re not going to fill all the jobs needed in a modern and sophisticated economy like that of Spain’s with 15.7 million people.

english.elpais.com
korrents.com
Hostility to migration is the last gasp of a dying system rather than the shape of the future.

Their words

The negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system and the transition to a more realistic approach.

english.elpais.com

2 March 2023

Lant PritchettKorrents 2 Mar 2023

From one piece Choose People 6 beliefs · lampforum.org

korrents.com
Policy can manufacture a false necessity, and false necessity is the mother of wasteful invention.

innovation

Their words

There is an old saying that “necessity is the mother of invention” but it is also true that policies can create false necessity and false necessity can be the mother of costly, resource consuming, dumb inventions.

Choose Peoplelampforum.org
korrents.com
Opening legal pathways for people to move to the jobs would solve rich countries’ labour shortage and lift millions out of poverty at the same time.

Their words

If we collectively devoted the same levels of investment and inventive power and entrepreneurship to developing more and better legal pathways for people to move across borders to needed jobs, including a variety of modalities for labor mobility, we could solve the growing challenge of labor scarcity.

Choose Peoplelampforum.org
korrents.com
Innovation that answers a policy-made price rather than real scarcity leaves the world no better off, however good the science inside it.

innovation

Their words

But, whether it makes financial sense or not for the individuals involved, they are responding to distorted prices, not scarcity, and the world is not better off from their invention and innovation.

Choose Peoplelampforum.org

+ 3 more

korrents.com
The world economy is flat for capital, goods and ideas, and has a legal cliff at the border for people.

Their words

This is not because there are not people who would drive trucks for Amazon in the world, and not because “natural” scientific progress has made machines that drive trucks easy and cheap, but because in a global economy which is “flat” for capital, information, and goods, there is a legal “cliff at the border” for labor, as prices don’t reflect scarcity.

Choose Peoplelampforum.org
korrents.com
Labour-saving innovation in rich countries is aimed at the only asset most of the world’s poor have to sell.

hiringinnovation

Their words

Therefore, we have the perverse situation that the richest people are hiring some of the most talented and technologically sophisticated people on the planet to engage in innovation aimed at driving down the demand for labor—the major and often only asset of the world’s poor.

Choose Peoplelampforum.org
korrents.com
The rich world is spending its scarcest resource, elite talent, on economising the most abundant resource on earth: ordinary labour.

Their words

My key argument is that in the current global economy we have some of the scarcest resources on the planet devoting themselves to economizing one of the most abundant resources on the planet.

Choose Peoplelampforum.org

22 April 2020

Lant PritchettRecommends 22 Apr 2020

Likedrcmnd.app
Growth and the Case Against Randomista Development

Their words

John Halstead and Hauke Hillebrandt have an interesting new paper posted on the Effective Altruism Forum. To be fair, it draws a fair bit on some of my research and so I am likely biased. But it does raise and argue some important points about effective altruism.

lantpritchett.org

7 March 2019

Lant PritchettRecommends 7 Mar 2019

Likedrcmnd.app
The History of England

Their words

And the volume is full of such wonderful, old fashioned, sentences.

lantpritchett.org

The whole feed →

Beliefs

Korrents What they believe 14 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
- Hostility to migration is the last gasp of a dying system rather than the shape of the future.
  
  The negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system and the transition to a more realistic approach.
  
  Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ Said 29 Nov 2023
  
  Full record — everyone who holds this →
- Without immigrants Spain’s labour force falls from 22.6 to 15.7 million by 2050, far too few to run its economy.
  
  In the absence of immigrants, between 2020 and 2050 Spain’s labor force (its active population) will drop from 22.6 to 15.7 million people. You’re not going to fill all the jobs needed in a modern and sophisticated economy like that of Spain’s with 15.7 million people.
  
  Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ Said 29 Nov 2023
  
  Full record — everyone who holds this →
  
  immigration
- Demography is about to turn the rich world’s problem from finding a job for every person into finding a person for every job.
  
  But once the demographics reverse, the challenge will be to find a person for every job. In the coming years, the impact of demographic changes is going to lead to chronic labor shortages.
  
  Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ Said 29 Nov 2023
  
  Full record — everyone who holds this →
  
  demographics
Show 11 more

Immigration policy should run on three separate tracks: future citizens, people allowed to work, and people admitted out of necessity.

Governments should create three tracks for people who come to live in their country. One track is that of people who hope to become Spanish. Another is that of those who we are going to allow to live and work here; the third is that of those of we are going to allow to be in Spain out of necessity.

Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ Said 29 Nov 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

immigration

Public hostility to immigration comes from fusing “who may work here” with “who becomes one of us”, and separating the two dissolves it.

When you separate those two questions in public dialogue, the negative attitudes disappear.

Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ Said 29 Nov 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

immigration

Wanting to preserve a national culture is a legitimate human impulse and not in itself a racist one.

Valuing traditions, culture and history is simply a legitimate part of the human experience, and there is nothing wrong with preserving that.

Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ Said 29 Nov 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

racism

Anti-immigration parties gain ground by generating fear, not by winning the argument about what immigration does.

The thing about the far-right parties is that they are trying to get people to equate all foreigners in a country with a threat to our future, but they are only gaining ground because of their ability to generate fear.

Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ Said 29 Nov 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

immigration

Migrants filling low-skill jobs in rich countries take nobody’s job, because the native workforce is shrinking faster than those jobs are appearing.

According to my numbers, in the United States there will be a net of 3.24 million new low-skill jobs, but there will also be 4.7 million fewer people in the labor force.

Lant Pritchett, economist: ‘Negativity around migration is the last breath of a moribund system’ Said 29 Nov 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

immigration America

The rich world is spending its scarcest resource, elite talent, on economising the most abundant resource on earth: ordinary labour.

My key argument is that in the current global economy we have some of the scarcest resources on the planet devoting themselves to economizing one of the most abundant resources on the planet.

Choose People Said 2 Mar 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Labour-saving innovation in rich countries is aimed at the only asset most of the world’s poor have to sell.

Therefore, we have the perverse situation that the richest people are hiring some of the most talented and technologically sophisticated people on the planet to engage in innovation aimed at driving down the demand for labor—the major and often only asset of the world’s poor.

Choose People Said 2 Mar 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

hiring innovation

The world economy is flat for capital, goods and ideas, and has a legal cliff at the border for people.

This is not because there are not people who would drive trucks for Amazon in the world, and not because “natural” scientific progress has made machines that drive trucks easy and cheap, but because in a global economy which is “flat” for capital, information, and goods, there is a legal “cliff at the border” for labor, as prices don’t reflect scarcity.

Choose People Said 2 Mar 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Innovation that answers a policy-made price rather than real scarcity leaves the world no better off, however good the science inside it.

But, whether it makes financial sense or not for the individuals involved, they are responding to distorted prices, not scarcity, and the world is not better off from their invention and innovation.

Choose People Said 2 Mar 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

innovation

Opening legal pathways for people to move to the jobs would solve rich countries’ labour shortage and lift millions out of poverty at the same time.

If we collectively devoted the same levels of investment and inventive power and entrepreneurship to developing more and better legal pathways for people to move across borders to needed jobs, including a variety of modalities for labor mobility, we could solve the growing challenge of labor scarcity.

Choose People Said 2 Mar 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Policy can manufacture a false necessity, and false necessity is the mother of wasteful invention.

There is an old saying that “necessity is the mother of invention” but it is also true that policies can create false necessity and false necessity can be the mother of costly, resource consuming, dumb inventions.

Choose People Said 2 Mar 2023

Full record — everyone who holds this →

innovation
All 14 beliefs →

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Recommends rcmnd

rcmnd What they recommend 2 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
- Liked Growth and the Case Against Randomista Development 22 Apr 2020
  
  John Halstead and Hauke Hillebrandt have an interesting new paper posted on the Effective Altruism Forum. To be fair, it draws a fair bit on some of my research and so I am likely biased. But it does raise and argue some important points about effective altruism.
  
  lantpritchett.org 22 Apr 2020
  
  What others say about Growth and the Case Against Randomista Development →
- Liked The History of England 7 Mar 2019
  
  And the volume is full of such wonderful, old fashioned, sentences.
  
  lantpritchett.org 7 Mar 2019
  
  What others say about The History of England →
All 2 recommendations →

Where they publish

Site lantpritchett.org His site: papers, essays and talks.

Open lantpritchett.org

Link verified 20 Sept 2026.

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