Earlier this year I read a book entitled, 'The Culture Transplant - How Migrants Make the Economies They Move To a Lot Like the Ones They Left', by Professor Garett Jones, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia, USA. [Note from F4EU: We have linked to the publisher, Stanford University Press.]

In a review of the book that led to me to buy it, Daniel Pipes, a former professor and commentator on foreign policy and the Middle East, writes as follows: [Note from F4EU: We have linked to the site of this historian and columnist for The Washington Times.]

"Jones argues that "the shadow of the past is transmitted through culture to shape the diverse economies we see around the world today." He cites the case of Argentina, which went from one of the richest countries to a poor one, as an example of immigration drastically changing political ideas and economic institutions. Focusing on levels of trust ("a critical ingredient in the nation's prosperity recipe"), he notes the persistence of patterns of trust or mistrust unto the fourth generation.

"In his words, "immigration, to a large degree, creates a culture transplant, making the places that migrants go a lot like the places they left. And for good and for ill, those culture transplants shape a nation's future." Further, "some countries are more likely than other countries to export the kind of attitudes that build a nation's prosperity."

"While Jones limits himself to economic growth, cultural traits undoubtedly have a comparable longevity when it comes to other aspects of life as well, such as attitudes about gender, religion, and politics. The moral is simple: control your border and pick your immigrants wisely. And woe to those who do not."

Jones argues that research shows that where people are located geographically is far less important than their culture. People with a background history of settled agriculture and organised governance do better than those without these advantages. However, the prime factor predicting a society’s economic success is its technological history. This conclusion is supported by numerous researchers who used statistical analysis involving sometimes millions of regressions.

He noted that the Chinese rate highly in many key factors for economic success and wherever they went in Asia they not only became more prosperous themselves but increased the overall prosperity of the societies to which they migrated.

However, diversity is not a strength at the coal face. The book recounts research (by economist Jonas Hjort) on ethnic conflict within the Kenyan flower industry, where workers are paid on a per unit produced basis. The two principal ethnic groups in Kenya are the Kikuyu and the Luo, tribes that have had numerous conflicts over the years. Hjort’s research showed that a two-person flower processing team made up of a Luo tribe member and a Kikuyu tribe member was on average five percent less productive than a team made up of two members from either tribe and eight percent less productive in times of ethnic tension.

Here’s a quote from the book’s concluding chapter:

UK’s system of government a model to follow? No longer

In years gone by, the United Kingdom’s system of government was seen as a model to follow. For example, the Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest, completed in 1904, which I inspected in May this year, was constructed in a neo-Gothic style that was inspired by the Palace of Westminster as leading Hungarian politicians of that time regarded Britain as a political role model. Today Britain provides a model of what not to do.

The catastrophe arising from mass immigration now enveloping the United Kingdom is the inevitable result of the lack of wisdom shown by its political, bureaucratic, academic, cultural and business elites, who have repeatedly ignored, denigrated and sought to supress what they consider to be the unacceptable views of many of their fellow citizens.

The United Kingdom – A warning to the world

Many throughout the world now believe that the native people of England have been betrayed; that they are being dispossessed of their land and their national identity stripped from them. The erection of St George and Union flags everywhere represent claims to territory; British people are saying to the invaders: “This is our land, not yours, and we are taking it back!” If the rights they seek cannot be obtained democratically, the only choices remaining will be either flight, surrender or revolt.

Traditionally, the English have emphasised individual rights rather than group rights; they have not been a tribal people. While, using David Goodhart’s terminology, the ‘Anywheres’ will flee, the ‘Somewheres’ will stay and if unassimilable groups are not expelled, tribalism reminiscent of The Troubles in Northern Ireland will emerge but on a vastly greater scale.

The United Kingdom today provides a warning to the world – this is what happens when a nation fails to pick its immigrants wisely.