A better measure of national greatness is the ability of nations to cultivate, attract and retain human capital. People tend to vote with their feet. To trace the rise or decline of nations is to watch where those feet go — and where they leave.
Take Hungary. Since 1960, seven Hungarians have won the Nobel Prize. Not bad for a small country — except that all of them left Hungary to make their lives and careers elsewhere.
Or take Portugal, a once-great country. Today, one in five Portuguese citizens — two million in all — live abroad. More Portuguese live in France than in Lisbon. That shouldn’t be a surprise: Since 2008, the Portuguese economy has shriveled by 4 percent.
The United States provides the opposite example. The American economy is 12 percent larger today than it was at the time of the financial crisis. We’re also taking in roughly half a million legal new arrivals a year. The foot-voting continues, and we’re still coming out on top.
