Borderless Economies: Chinese Sea Turtles, Indian Fridges, and the New Fruits of Global Capitalism

In a nutshell, Borderless Economies is a 200-page argument in favor of immigration. The book's author, Robert Guest, explores how immigration leads to higher levels of innovation and economic growth, to say nothing of personal happiness. He mines the terrain from the Congo to China, Korea to Kinshasa, and perhaps not surprisingly devotes the most ink to the U.S.

Borderless Economies is written in the same snappy style as The Economist, which is not terribly surprising when one considers that Guest is the Business Editor of the periodical. I guffawed a bit too loudly, for example, when reading about the cars that suffered from, in a company spokesman's words, "thermal incidents," but which Guest noted the customers called "catching fire." This style makes for a quick read and entertaining read.

This is a book I could easily foresee assigning to a class of business undergrads, but which I can just as heartily recommend to friends whose professional and personal interests do not normally include international business.