The Economic Effects of Immigration into the United Kingdom.

The article examines the economic effects of immigration with special emphasis on Great Britain. The author notes that, since 1997 a new British immigration policy has displaced previous policy aims, which were focused on minimizing settlement. Large-scale immigration is now seen as essential for Great Britain's economic well being, and measures have been introduced to increase inflows. The benefits claimed include fiscal advantages, increased prosperity, a ready supply of labor, and improvements to the age structure. Immigration is additionally claimed to promote growth in GDP through its selective augmentation of the population of working age. However, the authors argue that the claim that large-scale immigration will be of great economic benefit to them is false. The authors concludes that the economic consequences of large-scale immigration are mostly minor, negative, or transient, that the interests of more vulnerable sections of the domestic population may well be damaged, and that any economic benefits are unlikely to bear comparison with immigration's probable substantial and permanent demographic and environmental impact.