The Shortest History of Migration

16-01-2025
Author(s): Ian Goldin
Publication Number: ECES-SB311
Issued in: 2025

Overview:

For hundreds of thousands of years, the ability of Homo sapiens to travel across vast distances and adapt to new environments has been key to our survival as a species. And yet this deep migratory impulse is being tested as never before. The number of international migrants has increased five decades in a row; still, many governments are making migration more difficult.

Goldin also turns his attention to today’s world. Blending his knowledge of economics and globalization, and incorporating lessons from history, Goldin offers a detailed picture of modern-day migration and lays out commonsense policies for countries grappling with it. At once an illuminating history and a vision for the future, The Shortest History of Migration is a moving portrait of humanity and a chance to learn from our past.