MOVE

A nuanced discussion of the increasing importance of free movement across the planet.

“Almost no Western democracies are prepared for the new age of mass migrations,” writes Khanna, founder and managing partner of FutureMap and author of The Future Is Asian(2019) and other well-received books about global affairs. Climate change will force the evacuation of large portions of, for instance, the Indian subcontinent, and millions of people from that large region will move to places like Kazakhstan and other nations of Central Asia that may be relatively both more hospitable to agriculture and underpopulated. Realignments are likely to be regional. Residents of sweltering parts of western China will find themselves living in Russia (where, Khanna notes, Chinese settlers are already flocking to the southern shores of Lake Baikal), while residents of embattled Central American nations may bypass the U.S. for Canada, where increasing amounts of arable land are opening up thanks to the warming of the Arctic. These movements trend to the north, and while the countries most capable of receiving large numbers of migrants, particularly Canada and Russia, will meet them differently, Khanna argues that the north and its aging populace can use a shot of fresh energy. “Remember there is no zero-sum competition between local and foreign workers: A greater influx of labor itself stimulates the economy and creates greater demand for labor,” he writes. Khanna’s book is rich in implication: Air conditioning may have a deleterious effect on the environment, but it can be done better and more efficiently, allowing people to remain in places such as Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Regardless, he writes, we need to think our way toward “Civilization 3.0,” in which seasonal movement is possible, nations spend money on water desalinization and clean energy, and the vagaries of human geography are more nimbly taken into account.

Nativists will hate it, but no matter. Khanna makes an urgent, powerful argument for more open international borders.