According to CNN Money and research firm Hurun, about 2/3 of wealthy Chinese (with more than 1.6 million dollars in the bank) have emigrated, or are planning to. As you can see in the map, some hotspots where they move into are: Europe, the U.S., Canada, and Hong Kong. However, an interesting fact is that this idea is not population amount the “super” rich. They tend to stay in the country.
This can be a good news for other countries because these rich Chinese can invest in the countries’ economies and become skilled workers. For example, in my previous post, I talked about how Chinese invest in Detroit. They have invested over a billion dollars in Detroit. Similar things can happen to Africa, Europe, and other countries.
There are also other benefits. Some say that a lot of these Chinese emigrate to Germany, where they create lots of jobs and businesses. This strengthens and bolsters the economy.
However, if we think about it in the other direction, poorer and poorer people will stay in China. Would this be a good thing for China and eventually to other countries?
Source: CNN Money
I don’t necessarily think that the immigration of wealthy Chinese makes the poor any poorer, but I do agree with you that immigrants can contribute to their new countries’ economies. I can also see cons for the wealthiest Chinese immigrating to other countries. For one, it creates more competition in an already competitive labor market in their new country, which would increase unemployment levels. The Chinese economy might also suffer since most of the wealthiest Chinese are also their most educated and skilled workers, potentially leading to a drop in efficiency, innovation and production.
Although I agree that the Chinese economy might suffer from the negative repercussions of emigration, I do not necessarily concur with the argument that it might increase unemployment levels in the US. I believe that most wealthy Chinese immigrants do not compete in the US labor market. Rather than looking for a new job, they are looking to invest in the US market, supplying more capital to the economy. Moreover, wealthy Chinese immigrants contribute with pertinent skills and knowledge that are vital for the increasingly globalized market.
I also took note of this emigration issue in an earlier post, found
(here). Moreover I think traditional thinking over labor disagrees with Geeker’s assessment of the situation. Fighting over valuable human capital has been a tension between governments for centuries and is one of the reason’s for tax laws and social policy. While Jordan might see some consequences of an influx of untrained capital it is very unlikely that highly educated and motivated Chinese will be a burden on any country that emigrate to.
Kuveke and Moure, I see both of your points and I do agree that skilled labor is sought after and often fought over by countries, but I still think it further increases competition in labor markets. Maybe I am looking at it the wrong way, but I think that skilled, foreign labor coming into an economy pushes out the country’s citizens currently working that job. This is not necessarily a bad thing since it encourages unskilled workers to gain the skills necessary to compete, but as we touched on in class today, companies can take advantage of foreign workers by paying them less and passing them over for promotions as they do not always understand the concept of the corporate ladder.
I think both of the sides/arguments make sense.
However, I think that while some of the wealthy Chinese move to other places like the U.S. looking for jobs, most of them look for places to invest. This is what is happening in Detroit. They are keep on investing, which is a good sign for the auto industry. I also think these workers can increase the productivity in long run that it can promote the economic growth.
That the handful of truly wealthy Chinese want to buy insurance by getting legal residency outside of their country says nothing about whether they in fact choose to actually live and work elsewhere, or merely use it as a way to insulate part of their wealth from politics (including anti-corruption campaigns), and enhance the ability to place their children into high-prestige international universities. We should take such stories with a grain of salt!