A country with no borders is not a country at all, merely an "economic zone" that can be leached until dry.

What is the mechanism whereby an economic zone is leached, such that borders would protect it?

I don't have hard data yet but I'm pretty sure some cities have suburbs outside them, connected via road, that rich people use as tax havens so they can live near a city without being subject to the laws and taxation of the city

	▲	array_key_first 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Right but if you go into a country then you're in the country, not in the outskirts. You still pay taxes (generally...), and, in many countries, don't get any social services. If anything, many formally-colonial countries are leeching off their illegal immigrants, not the other way around.
	▲	Dylan16807 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Countries are generally big and with cities on both sides of a border so that doesn't seem like it would be a big worry for them.