The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity

Download The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0762312750
Total Pages : 489 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (623 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity by : Solomon W. Polachek

Download or read book The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity written by Solomon W. Polachek and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-05 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of "The Research in Labor Economics" series, this volume is a collection of papers dedicated to the memory of the late Tikva Lecker. Professor Lecker's many interests included topics in labor economics, women and the economy, the economics of Judaism, the economics of migration and the economic experience of immigrants and their descendants.

The Economics of Immigration

Download The Economics of Immigration PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317752988
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (177 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Economics of Immigration by : Cynthia Bansak

Download or read book The Economics of Immigration written by Cynthia Bansak and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-04-24 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economics of Immigration provides students with the tools needed to examine the economic impact of immigration and immigration policies over the past century. Students will develop an understanding of why and how people migrate across borders and will learn how to analyze the economic causes and effects of immigration. The main objectives of the book are for students to understand the decision to migrate; to understand the impact of immigration on markets and government budgets; and to understand the consequences of immigration policies in a global context. From the first chapter, students will develop an appreciation of the importance of immigration as a separate academic field within labor economics and international economics. Topics covered include the effect of immigration on labor markets, housing markets, international trade, tax revenues, human capital accumulation, and government fiscal balances. The book also considers the impact of immigration on what firms choose to produce, and even on the ethnic diversity of restaurants and on financial markets, as well as the theory and evidence on immigrants’ economic assimilation. The textbook includes a comparative study of immigration policies in a number of immigrant-receiving and sending countries, beginning with the history of immigration policy in the United States. Finally, the book explores immigration topics that directly affect developing countries, such as remittances, brain drain, human trafficking, and rural-urban internal migration. Readers will also be fully equipped with the tools needed to understand and contribute to policy debates on this controversial topic. This is the first textbook to comprehensively cover the economics of immigration, and it is suitable both for economics students and for students studying migration in other disciplines, such as sociology and politics.

Issues in the Economics of Immigration

Download Issues in the Economics of Immigration PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226066673
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (26 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Issues in the Economics of Immigration by : George J. Borjas

Download or read book Issues in the Economics of Immigration written by George J. Borjas and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is now admitting nearly one million legal immigrants per year, while the flow of illegal aliens into the country continues to increase steadily. The debate over immigration policy has typically focused on three fundamental questions: How do immigrants perform economically relative to others? What effects do immigrants have on the employment opportunities of other workers? What kind of immigration policy is most beneficial to the host country? This authoritative volume represents a move beyond purely descriptive assessments of labor market consequences toward a more fully developed analysis of economic impacts across the social spectrum. Exploring the broader repercussions of immigration on education, welfare, Social Security, and crime, as well as the labor market, these papers assess dimensions not yet taken into account by traditional cost-benefit calculations. This collection offers new insights into the kinds of economic opportunities and outcomes that immigrant populations might expect for themselves and future generations.

The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration

Download The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309444454
Total Pages : 643 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (94 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration by : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Download or read book The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-07-13 with total page 643 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration finds that the long-term impact of immigration on the wages and employment of native-born workers overall is very small, and that any negative impacts are most likely to be found for prior immigrants or native-born high school dropouts. First-generation immigrants are more costly to governments than are the native-born, but the second generation are among the strongest fiscal and economic contributors in the U.S. This report concludes that immigration has an overall positive impact on long-run economic growth in the U.S. More than 40 million people living in the United States were born in other countries, and almost an equal number have at least one foreign-born parent. Together, the first generation (foreign-born) and second generation (children of the foreign-born) comprise almost one in four Americans. It comes as little surprise, then, that many U.S. residents view immigration as a major policy issue facing the nation. Not only does immigration affect the environment in which everyone lives, learns, and works, but it also interacts with nearly every policy area of concern, from jobs and the economy, education, and health care, to federal, state, and local government budgets. The changing patterns of immigration and the evolving consequences for American society, institutions, and the economy continue to fuel public policy debate that plays out at the national, state, and local levels. The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration assesses the impact of dynamic immigration processes on economic and fiscal outcomes for the United States, a major destination of world population movements. This report will be a fundamental resource for policy makers and law makers at the federal, state, and local levels but extends to the general public, nongovernmental organizations, the business community, educational institutions, and the research community.

Immigration as a Social Determinant of Health

Download Immigration as a Social Determinant of Health PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309482178
Total Pages : 77 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (94 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Immigration as a Social Determinant of Health by : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Download or read book Immigration as a Social Determinant of Health written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-01-28 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1965 the foreign-born population of the United States has swelled from 9.6 million or 5 percent of the population to 45 million or 14 percent in 2015. Today, about one-quarter of the U.S. population consists of immigrants or the children of immigrants. Given the sizable representation of immigrants in the U.S. population, their health is a major influence on the health of the population as a whole. On average, immigrants are healthier than native-born Americans. Yet, immigrants also are subject to the systematic marginalization and discrimination that often lead to the creation of health disparities. To explore the link between immigration and health disparities, the Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity held a workshop in Oakland, California, on November 28, 2017. This summary of that workshop highlights the presentations and discussions of the workshop.

Superdiversity

Download Superdiversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1135049424
Total Pages : 287 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (35 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Superdiversity by : Steven Vertovec

Download or read book Superdiversity written by Steven Vertovec and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-11-15 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Superdiversity explores processes of diversification and the complex, emergent social configurations that now supersede prior forms of diversity in societies around the world. Migration plays a key role in these processes, bringing changes not just in social, cultural, religious, and linguistic phenomena, but also in the ways that these phenomena combine with others like gender, age, and legal status. The concept of superdiversity has been adopted by scholars across the social sciences in order to address a variety of forms, modes, and outcomes of diversification. Central to this field is the relationship between social categorization and social organization, including stratification and inequality. Increasingly complex categories of social “difference” have significant impacts across scales, from entire societies to individual identities. While diversification is often met with simplifying stereotypes, threat narratives, and expressions of antagonism, superdiversity encourages a perspective on difference as comprising multiple social processes, flexible collective meanings, and overlapping personal and group identities. A superdiversity approach encourages the re-evaluation and recognition of social categories as multidimensional, unfixed, and porous as opposed to views based on hardened, one-dimensional thinking about groups. Diversification and increasing social complexity are bound to continue, if not intensify, in light of climate change. This will have profound impacts on the nature of global migration, social relations, and inequalities. Superdiversity presents a convincing case for recognizing new social formations created by changing migration patterns and calls for a re-thinking of public policy and social scientific approaches to social difference. This introduction to the multidisciplinary concept of superdiversity will be of considerable interest to students and researchers in a range of fields in the humanities and social sciences. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity

Download America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610440358
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity by : Frank D. Bean

Download or read book America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity written by Frank D. Bean and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2003-05-01 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The attacks of September 11, 2001, facilitated by easy entry and lax immigration controls, cast into bold relief the importance and contradictions of U.S. immigration policy. Will we have to restrict immigration for fear of future terrorist attacks? On a broader scale, can the country's sense of national identity be maintained in the face of the cultural diversity that today's immigrants bring? How will the resulting demographic, social, and economic changes affect U.S. residents? As the debate about immigration policy heats up, it has become more critical than ever to examine immigration's role in our society. With a comprehensive social scientific assessment of immigration over the past thirty years, America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity provides the clearest picture to date of how immigration has actually affected the United States, while refuting common misconceptions and predicting how it might affect us in the future. Frank Bean and Gillian Stevens show how, on the whole, immigration has been beneficial for the United States. Although about one million immigrants arrive each year, the job market has expanded sufficiently to absorb them without driving down wages significantly or preventing the native-born population from finding jobs. Immigration has not led to welfare dependency among immigrants, nor does evidence indicate that welfare is a magnet for immigrants. With the exception of unauthorized Mexican and Central American immigrants, studies show that most other immigrant groups have attained sufficient earnings and job mobility to move into the economic mainstream. Many Asian and Latino immigrants have established ethnic networks while maintaining their native cultural practices in the pursuit of that goal. While this phenomenon has led many people to believe that today's immigrants are slow to enter mainstream society, Bean and Stevens show that intermarriage and English language proficiency among these groups are just as high—if not higher—as among prior waves of European immigrants. America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity concludes by showing that the increased racial and ethnic diversity caused by immigration may be helping to blur the racial divide in the United States, transforming the country from a biracial to multi-ethnic and multi-racial society. Replacing myth with fact, America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity contains a wealth of information and belongs on the bookshelves of policymakers, pundits, scholars, students, and anyone who is concerned about the changing face of the United States. A Volume in the American Sociological Association's Rose Series in Sociology

The Economics of Immigration

Download The Economics of Immigration PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0190258799
Total Pages : 263 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Economics of Immigration by : Benjamin Powell

Download or read book The Economics of Immigration written by Benjamin Powell and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A study of the economics of immigration"--

One Quarter of the Nation

Download One Quarter of the Nation PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691255350
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis One Quarter of the Nation by : Nancy Foner

Download or read book One Quarter of the Nation written by Nancy Foner and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-10-17 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth look at the many ways immigration has redefined modern America The impact of immigrants over the past half century has become so much a part of everyday life in the United States that we sometimes fail to see it. This deeply researched book by one of America’s leading immigration scholars tells the story of how immigrants are fundamentally changing this country. An astonishing number of immigrants and their children—nearly eighty-six million people—now live in the United States. Together, they have transformed the American experience in profound and far-reaching ways that go to the heart of the country’s identity and institutions. Unprecedented in scope, One Quarter of the Nation traces how immigration has reconfigured America’s racial order—and, importantly, how Americans perceive race—and played a pivotal role in reshaping electoral politics and party alignments. It discusses how immigrants have rejuvenated our urban centers as well as some far-flung rural communities, and examines how they have strengthened the economy, fueling the growth of old industries and spurring the formation of new ones. This wide-ranging book demonstrates how immigration has touched virtually every facet of American culture, from the music we dance to and the food we eat to the films we watch and books we read. One Quarter of the Nation opens a new chapter in our understanding of immigration. While many books look at how America changed immigrants, this one examines how they changed America. It reminds us that immigration has long been a part of American society, and shows how immigrants and their families continue to redefine who we are as a nation.

The Housing and Economic Experiences of Immigrants in U.S. and Canadian Cities

Download The Housing and Economic Experiences of Immigrants in U.S. and Canadian Cities PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
ISBN 13 : 1442622903
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (426 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Housing and Economic Experiences of Immigrants in U.S. and Canadian Cities by : Carlos Teixeira

Download or read book The Housing and Economic Experiences of Immigrants in U.S. and Canadian Cities written by Carlos Teixeira and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2015-02-26 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1960s, new and more diverse waves of immigrants have changed the demographic composition and the landscapes of North American cities and their suburbs. The Housing and Economic Experiences of Immigrants in U.S. and Canadian Cities is a collection of essays examining how recent immigrants have fared in getting access to jobs and housing in urban centres across the continent. Using a variety of methodologies, contributors from both countries present original research on a range of issues connected to housing and economic experiences. They offer both a broad overview and a series of detailed case studies that highlight the experiences of particular communities. This volume demonstrates that, while the United States and Canada have much in common when it comes to urban development, there are important structural and historical differences between the immigrant experiences in these two countries.

The Diversity Paradox

Download The Diversity Paradox PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610446615
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Diversity Paradox by : Jennifer Lee

Download or read book The Diversity Paradox written by Jennifer Lee and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2010-05-13 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African Americans grappled with Jim Crow segregation until it was legally overturned in the 1960s. In subsequent decades, the country witnessed a new wave of immigration from Asia and Latin America—forever changing the face of American society and making it more racially diverse than ever before. In The Diversity Paradox, authors Jennifer Lee and Frank Bean take these two poles of American collective identity—the legacy of slavery and immigration—and ask if today's immigrants are destined to become racialized minorities akin to African Americans or if their incorporation into U.S. society will more closely resemble that of their European predecessors. They also tackle the vexing question of whether America's new racial diversity is helping to erode the tenacious black/white color line. The Diversity Paradox uses population-based analyses and in-depth interviews to examine patterns of intermarriage and multiracial identification among Asians, Latinos, and African Americans. Lee and Bean analyze where the color line—and the economic and social advantage it demarcates—is drawn today and on what side these new arrivals fall. They show that Asians and Latinos with mixed ancestry are not constrained by strict racial categories. Racial status often shifts according to situation. Individuals can choose to identify along ethnic lines or as white, and their decisions are rarely questioned by outsiders or institutions. These groups also intermarry at higher rates, which is viewed as part of the process of becoming "American" and a form of upward social mobility. African Americans, in contrast, intermarry at significantly lower rates than Asians and Latinos. Further, multiracial blacks often choose not to identify as such and are typically perceived as being black only—underscoring the stigma attached to being African American and the entrenchment of the "one-drop" rule. Asians and Latinos are successfully disengaging their national origins from the concept of race—like European immigrants before them—and these patterns are most evident in racially diverse parts of the country. For the first time in 2000, the U.S. Census enabled multiracial Americans to identify themselves as belonging to more than one race. Eight years later, multiracial Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President of the United States. For many, these events give credibility to the claim that the death knell has been sounded for institutionalized racial exclusion. The Diversity Paradox is an extensive and eloquent examination of how contemporary immigration and the country's new diversity are redefining the boundaries of race. The book also lays bare the powerful reality that as the old black/white color line fades a new one may well be emerging—with many African Americans still on the other side.

The New Americans

Download The New Americans PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309521424
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (95 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The New Americans by : Panel on the Demographic and Economic Impacts of Immigration

Download or read book The New Americans written by Panel on the Demographic and Economic Impacts of Immigration and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1997-10-28 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book sheds light on one of the most controversial issues of the decade. It identifies the economic gains and losses from immigration--for the nation, states, and local areas--and provides a foundation for public discussion and policymaking. Three key questions are explored: What is the influence of immigration on the overall economy, especially national and regional labor markets? What are the overall effects of immigration on federal, state, and local government budgets? What effects will immigration have on the future size and makeup of the nation's population over the next 50 years? The New Americans examines what immigrants gain by coming to the United States and what they contribute to the country, the skills of immigrants and those of native-born Americans, the experiences of immigrant women and other groups, and much more. It offers examples of how to measure the impact of immigration on government revenues and expenditures--estimating one year's fiscal impact in California, New Jersey, and the United States and projecting the long-run fiscal effects on government revenues and expenditures. Also included is background information on immigration policies and practices and data on where immigrants come from, what they do in America, and how they will change the nation's social fabric in the decades to come.

Social Cohesion and Immigration in Europe and North America

Download Social Cohesion and Immigration in Europe and North America PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317689089
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Social Cohesion and Immigration in Europe and North America by : Ruud Koopmans

Download or read book Social Cohesion and Immigration in Europe and North America written by Ruud Koopmans and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concerns about immigration and the rising visibility of minorities have triggered a lively scholarly debate on the consequences of ethnic diversity for trust, cooperation, and other aspects of social cohesion. In this accessibly written volume, leading scholars explore where, when, and why ethnic diversity affects social cohesion by way of analyses covering the major European immigration countries, as well as the United States and Canada. They explore the merits of competing theoretical accounts and give rare insights into the underlying mechanisms through which diversity affects social cohesion. The volume offers a nuanced picture of the topic by explicitly exploring the conditions under which ethnic diversity affects the ‘glue’ that holds societies together. With its interdisciplinary perspective and contributions by sociologists, political scientists, social psychologists, as well as economists, the book offers the most comprehensive analysis of the link between ethnic diversity and social cohesion that is currently available.

The Border Within

Download The Border Within PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022627022X
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Border Within by : Tara Watson

Download or read book The Border Within written by Tara Watson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-01-17 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Today the United States is home to more unauthorized immigrants than at any time in the country's history. As scrutiny around immigration has intensified, border enforcement has tightened. The result is a population of new Americans who are more entrenched than ever before. Crossing harsher, less porous borders makes entry to the US a permanent, costly enterprise. And the challenges don't end once they're here. In The Border Within, journalist Kalee Thompson and economist Tara Watson examine the costs and ends of America's immigration-enforcement complex, particularly its practices of internal enforcement: the policies and agencies, including ICE, aimed at removing unauthorized immigrants living in the US. Thompson and Watson's economic appraisal of immigration's costs and benefits is interlaid with first-person reporting of families who personify America's policies in a time of scapegoating and fear. The result is at once enlightening and devastating. Thomspon and Watson examine immigration's impact on every aspect of American life, from the labor force to social welfare programs to tax revenue. The results paint an overwhelmingly positive picture of what non-native Americans bring to the country, including immigration's tendency to elevate the wages and skills of those who are native born. Their research also finds a stark gap between the realities of America's immigrant population and the policies meant to uproot them: America's internal enforcements are grounded in shock and awe more than any reality of where and how immigrants live. The objective, it seems, is to deploy "chilling effects" -- performative displays aimed at producing upstream effects on economic behaviors and decision-making among immigrants. The ramifications of these fear-based policies extends beyond immigrants themselves; they have impacts on American citizens living in immigrant families as well as on the broader society"--

How Immigrants Contribute to Developing Countries' Economies

Download How Immigrants Contribute to Developing Countries' Economies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : OECD Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9264288732
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (642 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis How Immigrants Contribute to Developing Countries' Economies by : OECD

Download or read book How Immigrants Contribute to Developing Countries' Economies written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2018-01-24 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How Immigrants Contribute to Developing Countries' Economies is the result of a project carried out by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organization, with support from the European Union. The report covers the ten project partner countries.

Immigration Economics

Download Immigration Economics PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674369912
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (743 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Immigration Economics by : George J. Borjas

Download or read book Immigration Economics written by George J. Borjas and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2014-06-09 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of people—nearly 3 percent of the world’s population—no longer live in the country where they were born. Every day, migrants enter not only the United States but also developed countries without much of a history of immigration. Some of these nations have switched in a short span of time from being the source of immigrants to being a destination for them. International migration is today a central subject of research in modern labor economics, which seeks to put into perspective and explain this historic demographic transformation. Immigration Economics synthesizes the theories, models, and econometric methods used to identify the causes and consequences of international labor flows. Economist George Borjas lays out with clarity and rigor a full spectrum of topics, including migrant worker selection and assimilation, the impact of immigration on labor markets and worker wages, and the economic benefits and losses that result from immigration. Two important themes emerge: First, immigration has distributional consequences: some people gain, but some people lose. Second, immigrants are rational economic agents who attempt to do the best they can with the resources they have, and the same holds true for native workers of the countries that receive migrants. This straightforward behavioral proposition, Borjas argues, has crucial implications for how economists and policymakers should frame contemporary debates over immigration.

The Mystery of the Kibbutz

Download The Mystery of the Kibbutz PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691202249
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Mystery of the Kibbutz by : Ran Abramitzky

Download or read book The Mystery of the Kibbutz written by Ran Abramitzky and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-26 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the kibbutz movement thrived despite its inherent economic contradictions and why it eventually declined The kibbutz is a social experiment in collective living that challenges traditional economic theory. By sharing all income and resources equally among its members, the kibbutz system created strong incentives to free ride or—as in the case of the most educated and skilled—to depart for the city. Yet for much of the twentieth century kibbutzim thrived, and kibbutz life was perceived as idyllic both by members and the outside world. In The Mystery of the Kibbutz, Ran Abramitzky blends economic perspectives with personal insights to examine how kibbutzim successfully maintained equal sharing for so long despite their inherent incentive problems. Weaving the story of his own family’s experiences as kibbutz members with extensive economic and historical data, Abramitzky sheds light on the idealism and historic circumstances that helped kibbutzim overcome their economic contradictions. He illuminates how the design of kibbutzim met the challenges of thriving as enclaves in a capitalist world and evaluates kibbutzim’s success at sustaining economic equality. By drawing on extensive historical data and the stories of his pioneering grandmother who founded a kibbutz, his uncle who remained in a kibbutz his entire adult life, and his mother who was raised in and left the kibbutz, Abramitzky brings to life the rise and fall of the kibbutz movement. The lessons that The Mystery of the Kibbutz draws from this unique social experiment extend far beyond the kibbutz gates, serving as a guide to societies that strive to foster economic and social equality.