, Columnist
What the Black Death Taught Us About Immigration
The economic argument for restricting low-skilled workers is not getting enough attention.
A surprising aftermath.
Photographer: Hulton ArchiveThis article is for subscribers only.
When the Black Death came to Europe in the mid-1300s, it took about a third of the continent’s population with it. Cities suffered the worst of it. Paris lost half its people, Florence and Hamburg closer to 60 percent.
The immediate economic and societal effects were of course devastating -- and the economic hangover lasted for decades. But even as follow-on epidemics of the bubonic plague continued to sweep through the continent, something interesting (if not all that surprising, when you think about it) happened. Here’s historian Fernand Braudel’s description:1502716743285