In Chapter 8 of We Wanted Workers the author goes into detail in regards to the economic benefits of immigration and more specifically about who in particular gains and loses from said immigration. He starts off by noting that factually there are some misleading statistics that may appear to some people as objectively beneficial. When looking simply at the numbers the author says that people will say immigration benefits companies financially. This data is true but the author says that there is another aspect of immigration, which is that there is typically a loss in value associated with the native population in a country. When immigrants arrive in a new country the data suggests that local populations that were already in place will experience an economic loss whilst large corporations that employ these new immigrants will experience the benefits noted in the data. The second major thing the author speaks about in the chapter is in relation to the types of immigrants that come to the country in terms of their skill level. The author says that immigration is most beneficial to the native populations when the immigrants that are coming into the country are of high-skill and even then there needs to be a certain set of criteria met in order to ensure that the immigrants have, as the author would say, a productive spillover on the native population. Not every immigrant will beneficially impact the native population and the author notes that it takes a certain criteria to ensure that productive spillover will occur. Do immigrants need to benefit the local society in order to justify being in the country or should the fact that they are often leaving a bad situation for a chance at a better life be enough to justify immigration regardless of the economic impacts?
4 replies on “ERA Ch.8”
This is a well written ERA. You outline Borjas’s points well throughout the ERA.You pose a well thought out question at the end, and I think it is one that requires a lot of thought to answer. I think it would be great if we could justify immigration just on the basis that it gives people a better life, but at some point there has to be a line that is drawn. Letting everyone into the country would have a lot of negative impacts as noted by Borjas, but I also don’t think that immigrants need to benefit the local society in order to justify being in the country. Overall, this is a tough question the answer, but I think that a line needs to be drawn somewhere.
I thought your ERA really showed that you understood the points that Borjas brought up in this chapter about some benefits of immigration. To answer your question, I think it is hard to completely deny immigrants who are looking to get out of a bad situation entry to America, but in some instances it has to be done. If an immigrant is offering little to nothing to the country it is almost unfair to American natives to let them in. If they are unable to prosper in America they will begin to take away welfare benefits that American natives contributed to and often need. At the end of the day natives should be the main priority when it comes to this.
To answer your question, Andrew, I would not say that all immigrants are required to benefit the local population to have the opportunity for success in America. However, in order for any immigrant to benefit the nation that they are coming to the existing population must provide a population of immigrants the chance to do so. Not every Irishman that came over during the potato famine benefitted the nation, but there were many who did, and if the did not there is a good chance that their ancestors did. America should keep taking the chance on individuals who want a better opportunity for success.
Andrew, I think this is a well written Era. You clearly understood what Borjas talked about in this chapter, and I find the question you posed at the end very interesting. I do not think that immigrants need to arrived for the country necessarily to be allowed to be in it, and I think as a country we have a sort of moral duty to help those in need try to find a better life from within the country. However, I realize this must be regulated in some way, and there needs to be systems in place so that this can be used in a way that makes things better for the largest number of people.