Is there data on this? I'm having trouble finding it. Do we think that, say, more people move from US -> France than the opposite every year? I'd bet money on the reverse.

It sounds like you're looking to feed confirmation bias. Picking a country that most Americans love to hate isn't really going to give you accurate results. Try comparing the U.S. to Germany and Switzerland, or the U.S. to the Scandinavian countries.

Also, keep in mind that statistics on emigration only show you how many people moved between the countries. It doesn't show you whether people in Germany are more likely to be curious about the U.S. than vice versa, or whether the people are happier and have more freedom.

I am a European living in the U.S., and I agree the U.S. is a terrific country to be in if you are making a lot of money. But most people don't. The poor here are far worse off (and the rich are far better off--indeed, that is the definition of inequality.)

I picked France at random from the set of rich Western European countries. It was just the first one that popped into my head. /shrug/

I would predict the same outcome for England, Germany, Switzerland or Sweden.

Too your second point we were talking about where people would prefer to live not how happy they were or how free they were. Perhaps people would prefer to live someplace where they are less happy or free if it came with other benefits. Who knows.

Looking at net immigration rates is, I think, the best way to determine where people prefer to live.

> Looking at net immigration rates is, I think, the best way to determine where people prefer to live.

I don't think it is. I would prefer to live in the U.S. because my family lives here, but it has been tremendously difficult for me to get here, and has taken many years. Similarly, it's quite hard to just move to Germany or Sweden if you have no connection to those countries.

Considering that it's generally harder (legally speaking) to migrate to a rich country than to a poor country only strengthens my point.

No it doesn't. And it's quite laughable that you seem to be calling Germany and Sweden poor countries.

I wasn't calling Sweden or Germany poor. That would quite obviously be a silly thing to say.

The US, Sweden & Germany are all pretty rich and they all fairly restrictive in terms of how difficult it is to legally migrate to them. I thought that was what you means when you said "it has been tremendously difficult for me to get here" and "it's quite hard to just move to Germany or Sweden if you have no connection to those countries."