Simon Says: People are the Ultimate Resource
17 May 2006
Editor, The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
Robert Samuelson says that "while the presence of low-skilled immigrant workers may raise the profits of their employers, they tend to have a negative effect on the well-being of the low-skilled native-born population, and on the native economy as a whole" ("Still Dodging Immigration's Truths," May 17). Not so.
First, even George Borjas - a favorite economist of immigration skeptics - agrees that immigrants annually contribute, on net, $7 billion to the U.S. economy. Second, don't forget that capital is more mobile even than people. If immigration raises employers' profits, these higher profits attract additional investment and new competitors into these industries. Profits return to normal levels, and wages and output increase.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
Robert Samuelson says that "while the presence of low-skilled immigrant workers may raise the profits of their employers, they tend to have a negative effect on the well-being of the low-skilled native-born population, and on the native economy as a whole" ("Still Dodging Immigration's Truths," May 17). Not so.
First, even George Borjas - a favorite economist of immigration skeptics - agrees that immigrants annually contribute, on net, $7 billion to the U.S. economy. Second, don't forget that capital is more mobile even than people. If immigration raises employers' profits, these higher profits attract additional investment and new competitors into these industries. Profits return to normal levels, and wages and output increase.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Wednesday February 28, 2007 at 8:34pm