Abstract

Last April, an economist named Branko Milanovic published a proposal to reduce global economic inequality. Milanovic’s suggestion is as follows: what if we formally reduce the rights and benefits foreigners are entitled to, so long as they are welcome to come, work, and get a shot at improving their economic situation, at least for a limited time? Establishing different classes of citizens in an effort to boost labor mobility might create an improvement, purely in economic terms, on a global scale. But politically, it challenges the entire democratic concept of citizenship and belonging. But Milanovic’s proposal presents a broader conundrum that we must contend with today, when the merits of globalization are being debated in protectionist, xenophobic overtones.

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