Category Archives: immigration

Counterintuitive Result of the Day, Brain Drain Edition

The past 20 years have not been a good time to be of Indian origin in Fiji. As a result, many Indians in Fiji have emigrated to Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, making use of their … Continue reading

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Laughing at Alan Greenspan

I’m no big fan of Alan Greenspan or his pronouncements, especially those where he tries to persuade us that he wasn’t wrong in the past, he was right. There’s a classic example in his latest interview with David Wessel: In … Continue reading

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Oil Prices Up, Illegal Immigration Down?

Mark Thoma has a rather interesting idea: Producers may shift production closer to the markets where the goods are sold as transportation costs increase with energy prices. If so, it’s possible that higher energy costs could cause producers to shift … Continue reading

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The H1-B Fiasco, Redux

The H-1B fiasco is back! Last year, faced with 123,480 applications in two days for a pool of just 65,000 H-1B visas, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services was forced to run a lottery to see who would get … Continue reading

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The USA’s Ridiculous Border Controls

In order to keep New York attractive as an international financial center, it has to be reasonably easy for foreigners to get in and out. Not that the Department of Homeland Security seems to care. Already taking two fingerprints from … Continue reading

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You Just Can’t Find the Skilled Blue-Collar Workers These Days

When it comes to reasons for electricity prices going through the roof, the inability of your local utility company to find qualified line technicians is not going to be very high up the list. But when it comes to the … Continue reading

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Rich Immigrants

Paul Krugman and Chris Dillow both post interesting blog entries today, and the intersection of the two is even more interesting, I think. Krugman notes that London seems to be becoming a "rentier city", where the global rich from Russia … Continue reading

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Lant Pritchett’s Big Idea

Advocating a huge increase in international labor mobility.
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Complaining About the Immigration Points System

The immigration debate sure does throw together some strange
bedfellows
. Today, George
Borjas
and Robert
Reich
both express misgivings with the points-based system which will be
used to screen potential immigrants.
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Bush and Rodrik: Immigration Bedfellows

Bush, in the WSJ, and Rodrik, in the NYT, argue in different ways for the same thing.
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The Fate of Extraordinary Aliens Under the Immigration Bill

Even if the EB-1 green card is abolished, the O and P visas will still exist.
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Calculating the Cost of Emigrating

There aren’t costs of half a million dollars or so associated with moving to mainland US from Puerto Rico. It’s just something which a lot of Puerto Ricans have no interest in doing — and given how nice their beaches are, you can see why.
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Fantastic News on Immigration

The immigration
agreement
which has been hammered out between the Senate and the White House
is some of the best news I’ve heard in ages, and I’m keeping lots of fingers
and toes crossed that somehow it makes its way into law.
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The Effects of Illegal Workers on Productivity

Official employment figures are still very high in the construction industry.
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Immigration Datapoint of the Day

How immigration drives US prosperity.
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The H1-B Fiasco

Compared to most immigrants, holders of H1-B visas are highly educated, pay lots of taxes, and benefit both the economy and their local communities. The cost of educating them has been borne elsewhere, and now they want to give the benefits to the US. As a nation of immigrants, it should be welcoming them with open arms.
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