In the first week of September, the Syrian refugee crisis finally came to Western Europe.
Thousands of refugees who had been bottled up in Hungary started heading for the Austrian border, on trains, IN buses, and finally on foot. Most are on their way to Germany, which has declared that all refugees are welcome and expects as many as 800,000 within the year. That is around 1 percent of the German population, with Austria and Sweden set to take a similar proportion.
The moral case for taking these refugees is overwhelming. Many informed commentators have also convincingly argued that there are important economic benefits that come with accepting refugees said—for example The Economist, researchers Michael Clemens and Justin Sandefur, and journalist Simon Kuper.
