Immigration, transfer of new technologies and evolving work ethics have put entire industries in flux. This has stirred anti-immigration fervor in some communities as demonstrated by big gains of far-right parties in the European Parliament elections. Author Pallavi Aiyar analyzes the forces of globalization transforming the diamond-cutting industry in Antwerp. Once dominated by Jewish merchants, the trade is now largely in Gujarati hands whose small businesses expanded into global enterprises. The market caters to the wealthy, and Indian traders credit their success to skilled labor, low wages and hard work. Stereotyping aside, intense economic competition leads to new interconnectedness, and ethnic locks on an industry can be broken. Modern Europe embraces and codifies unsustainable benefits, and Aiyar questions criticism directed by wealthy societies at immigrants eager to compete through low wages. While the preferences are likely a function of wealth, she concludes that the right to leisure is a priority for many Europeans whereas citizens of developing countries emphasize a right to work. – YaleGlobal
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/europe-divided-over-immigration-work-ethics
