Eric Posner: "Citizenship for Sale"

Citizenship for Sale

A recent spate of newspaper stories has revealed that several countries around the world have started selling citizenship to foreigners. Some of the stories imply that this is a scam, possibly a dangerous scam that could benefit only money launderers and terrorists. The idea of governments hawking citizenship to the highest bidder makes people queasy. But the programs make sense for the countries involved and don’t pose a danger to anyone.

If you want to find a real scam involving a country that sells citizenship to foreigners, you don’t need to look overseas. Here at home we do just that with a ludicrous program for “immigrant investors.” It’s the worst combination of bad economics, political cronyism, and unfairness—and it has been endorsed by saints of capitalism Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

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