Noah Smith, Columnist

Of Course There’s Science in Malaysia

Amy Wax should pay attention to the facts.

Not a backwater.

Photographer: Samsul Said/Bloomberg
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Some right-wing intellectuals believe that immigration harms U.S. society by admitting people from cultures they consider inferior. The argument has a very old pedigree -- writing in 1896, Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Francis Walker warned against taking in “beaten men from beaten races.”

This notion was always terribly wrong, and global economic development is offering added proof.