How Migration Really Works

Authoritative and myth-busting, this is the one book you need to read to understand why we've been wrong about migration - perfect for fans of Tim Marshall's Prisoners of Geography

Global migration is not at an all-time high.

Climate change will not lead to mass migration.

Immigration mainly benefits the wealthy, not workers.

Border restrictions have paradoxically produced more migration.

These statements might sound counter-intuitive or just outright wrong - but the facts behind the headlines reveal a completely different story to the ones we're told about migration. In this ground-breaking and revelatory book, based on more than three decades of research, leading expert Professor Hein de Haas explodes myths from left to right that politicians, interest groups and media regularly spread about migration.

Above all, How Migration Really Works offers a new vision of global migration based on facts rather than fears, and a paradigm-altering understanding of this perennially important subject.

Review

A careful, balanced, and convincing take on one of the most divisive issues of our age. Backed by masses of data, Hein de Haas challenges much of what we think is obvious about migration, systematically busting myths and exposing propaganda from all across the political spectrum -- Ian Morris ― author of Why The West Rules – For Now

A book that will force Left and Right alike to reconsider old assumptions . . . [De Haas's]insights hold the key to effective migration policy . . . An important book, which should become a standard textbook for anyone seeking to have a real impact on migration -- Baroness Arminka Helic ― The Telegraph

A powerful debunking of myths about global migration, and an indictment of the political dishonesty that generates them . . . a clear and rigorous corrective that aims to give the general reader the tools for a more informed debate in future -- Daniel Trilling ― Guardian

Fact-filled, well-argued and authoritatively written . . . There is much to commend in this book, which effortlessly summarises decades of social science research on migration . . . De Haas has written a valuable book that, whatever one’s views on immigration, will challenge many of the reader’s idées reçues and leave them better informed -- Yuan Yi Zhu ― The Times

Prepare to have your mind changed . . . de Haas shows that everything we think we know about migration is wrong. How Migration Really Works is a carefully evidenced critique . . . I am rereading this book (something crabbed reviewers never normally do) -- Simon Ings ― New Scientist

An illuminating book -- Alan Beattie ― Financial Times

This new study of migration and its attendant myths should be falling out of briefcases all over Westminster -- Serena Cesareo ― Tortoise Media

De Haas deftly fillets the myriad myths in which our contradictory attitudes to immigration are rooted -- Kenan Malik ― Observer

An impressively wide-ranging book . . . de Haas provides a welcome corrective to common misconceptions -- Alan Gamlen ― Nature

An extraordinary and compelling book . . . takes two dozen myths about migration and ruthlessly demolishes them -- Gavin Esler ― Perspective

A stimulating book . . . [that draws] on copious and often unexpected data -- Marco d'Eramo ― New Left Review

Persuasive . . . this is an elegant book that focuses on the actual trends and patterns of migration . . . Armed with de Haas’s arguments, citizens will be better placed to challenge Western politicians when they make dubious assertions about the migrants in our midst -- Tunku Varadarajan ― Wall Street Journal

How Migration Really Works is a rarer thing: a book that resolutely trashes the assumptions both the left and the right use to prop up their belief systems. It is a brave venture . . . At his most incisive Haas gives an insight into why politicians double down on bad migration policies that rarely achieve what they set out to do -- Ros Taylor ― TLS

About the Author

Hein de Haas is Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Maastricht. He formerly taught at the University of Oxford, where he co-founded and co-directed the International Migration Institute (IMI). One of the world's top migration scholars, he continues to direct IMI from its current home at UvA. He is lead author of The Age of Migration, a seminal textbook in the field of migration studies. He lives in Amsterdam.