The labour immigration policies of high-income countries are characterized by trade-offs between openness to admitting migrant workers and some of the rights granted to migrants after admission. This empirical observation lies at the heart of the author's 2013 book, The price of rights: Regulating international labor migration. In this article, he reviews its main findings, arguments and policy implications and responds to a critical review of the book that was published in the International Labour Review in 2015. He concludes with a plea for more open debate on the linkages between migrant rights, labour migration and development among national and international organizations concerned with these issues. Copyright © The author 2016 Journal compilation © International Labour Organization 2016

Workers rights migration policy Migrant worker labour migration

labor migration immigration policy politics labor policy economics migrant worker ethics